Is the Kenyan Sports Fund not sufficient?

Sports PS Peter Kaberia. [Boniface Okendo,Standard]

Some sports federations have been forced to miss international competitions even after President Uhuru Kenyatta promised that all national teams will be funded by State. 

At the moment, Kenya Softball Federation (KSF) will not send a team to the Olympic qualifier set for South Africa next week over lack of funds.

The development comes at a time when there is an existing Sports Fund with a fat purse. The federation was told, "there is no money to meet the team's expenses." 

KSF presented a budget of Sh6 million to the Ministry of Sports one year ago but were shocked on Friday to realise the team will not travel to South Africa for the qualifier.

Francis Njeru Karugu, the President of KSF, said they were disappointed since the team has been in camp for several months.

"We were informed on Friday that the team will not be funded but no reason was given. We complied with the rules set out by Sports Fund. It is a big let down especially to the players," he said.

Last week, national men handball team traveled to Uganda for the All Africa games qualifier but failed to play in the last match after organisers said they had not paid affiliation fees on time. 

Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) was forced to take only one team to Uganda over lack of finances. After a last-minute approval, the handball team traveled to Kampala one day before the start of the tournament.

According to KHF President Nderitu Gicharia, they received quite late the affiliation fees of about Sh1million and they had to forgo the match against Uganda.

The team has never missed the games since 2007 and may affect Kenya's medal tally at the All Africa Games.

Two weeks ago, the under-20 that traveled to Ivory Coast for junior championship staged a sit-in demanding payment. On Thursday, the Paralympics team blocked Thika Highway and threatened to march to State House after failing to receive payment for taking part in an All Africa Games qualifier in Morocco.

The situation was saved at the last minute when the Ministry of Sports sent them Sh4.3 million to meet accommodation costs but no allowances were paid. 

With a number of Olympic and All Africa games qualifiers lined up in the coming months, there are fears that more teams will fail to travel and thus fail to qualify.

But the Sports Fund paid out more than Sh500million. It paid out Sh250 million to Kenya Golf Union (KGU) to host the Magical Kenya Open tournament and another Sh244 million to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) for Harambee Stars preparations ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations.

Sports Principal Secretary Peter Kaberia they will issue a comprehensive statement on the matter on Wednesday.

During the Beyond Zero Marathon in March, President Uhuru Kenyatta assured that all national teams would be funded.