Hassan Wario now cracks the whip on errant sports federations
What you need to know:
- Affected associations to miss State funding henceforth.
- Bodies banned from executing mandate due to non-compliance with 2013 Sports Act.
The government has banned all federations which have not complied with the 2013 Sports Act from executing their mandate.
In a move aimed at improving the management of sports in the country, Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Culture and the Arts Hassan Wario has also stopped funding to organisations and teams affiliated to the said federations.
“All affected Sports Organisations should therefore not participate in any national, regional and international competitions. They are also not eligible for funding and financial support, especially from the Exchequer through the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts,” Wario directed in an advertisement in the local dailies on Thursday.
Sports organisations registered under the Societies Act Cap 108 had until August 1 last year to comply with Section 49 of the Sports Act by applying to the Sports Registrar for registration.
Wario’s directive could paralyse sports activities in the country. The affected organisations however have an unspecified window of time to toe the line.
Among the affected federations are the Football Kenya Federation, Athletics Kenya, Kenya Rugby Union, Kenya Hockey Union, Kenya Premier League Ltd, Kenya Table Tennis Association, Cricket Kenya, Kenya Lawn Tennis Association, Chess Kenya and Kenya MotorSport Federation.
The announcement sent panic across the sporting fraternity, as officials of organisations affiliated to the affected federations thronged the Sports Registrar’s office located in Nairobi to collect registration forms. Bodies like the Kenya Table Tennis Association have asked for more time to comply.
“We will flush out and expose all those so called administrators who have been running sports activities in this country as if it was their personal property,” a senior official in the Ministry of Sport told Daily Nation Sport.
At the same time a number of senior sports administrators risk being locked out of management as they may not meet the strict criteria as stipulated in the Sports Act which includes seeking clearance from the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, Criminal Investigations Department, the Higher Educations Loans Board and the Credit Reference Bureau.
