Sport can play key role in jump-starting Kenya’s post-coronavirus economy

Over the years, the Ministry of Sports has always been allocated paltry amounts by Treasury, with sport considered by the exchequer, et al., a not-so-important sector of national economy.

For many years, Kenyan teams and athletes have survived on begging bowls to break even and represent the nation with dignity on the global stage.

Successive previous governments have picked court jesters for sports ministers, a docket hitherto condescendingly held in low regard.

Some of the previous Cabinet Ministers have indeed been a huge embarrassment, with one even declaring Kenya ready to bid for the Olympic Games.

And another objecting the allocation of Lane One to a Kenyan athlete in a 400 metres race at a global competition, arguing profusely that the Kenyan runner’s competitors were way ahead and thus given “undue advantage.”

He was only calmed down by bemused Kenyan officials who endured the awkward moment to painstakingly explain that it was merely optical illusion, and that all eight athletes would actually cover an equal distance of 400 metres…

But slowly, and thankfully, the derisive attitude towards the sports docket has changed, with pockets of hope that the sector shall eventually hold sway in budget-making and demand a bigger slice of the cake.

In the current budget, for instance, the allocation to the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund more than doubled to Sh14 billion.

Also, the Ministry of Sport has been assigned intellectually aligned executives whom we hope will success in their essential mission to drive sport to it’s rightful place higher up the pecking order.

And this couldn’t have come at a better time than now when the power of sport will increasingly be summoned to entice foreign interest in an economy slowly rising from the ashes of Covid-19.

There’s no gainsaying that Kenya’s economy has endured a thorough beating (my mutilated, acutely dismembered payslip bearing personal testimony) from Covid-19, and it will take a gargantuan effort to get it back on track.

With tourist numbers having plummeted and hotels teetering on the brink of collapse, our nation can look up to sport to slowly unclog revenue streams and reactivate bookings.

Especially as we anticipate three major competitions lined up in the country, namely World Athletics Continental Tour’s Kip Keino Classic (October 3), Magical Kenya Open Golf Championship (November 12 to 15) and the World Rally Championship Safari Rally (on a date to be confirmed next year).

These - along with the October 4 London Marathon, featuring Eliud Kipchoge and a galaxy of Kenyan stars - provide an ideal marketing platform to offer our economically battered country the kiss of life.

The WRC Safari Rally alone is expected to inject about Sh6 billion into our economy from conservative estimates.
Foreign entries to the Kip Keino Classic and Kenya Open golf will also certainly play a huge role in offering confidence that Kenya is safe to visit and open again for business.

It’s sickening, though, to see the wanton proliferation of national resources in the current Covid-19 corruption scandal revolving around PPEs (personal protective equipment) and donor funds meant to help us slay the respiratory disease monster.

Well connected “tender-preneurs” stealing from the dying offer recipe for anarchy, and fodder for a revolution by the downtrodden, discontented majority.

It is madness!

We only hope the Ministry of Sport will, through the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund, ensure that finances for the three major sports engagements are available, and in time, to avoid the last-minute circus we have been involuntarily entertained to in previous years.

With just 47 days to the Kip Keino Classic, for instance, we would expect a robust marketing campaign by government to assure that it’s safe for international athletes and officials to travel to Nairobi.

Also, public health protocols for the competition should be in place and the Nyayo National Stadium restored to global competition standards, seeing as plans for the laying of a fresh synthetic track are still-born.

With the government having committed Sh75 million to the Kip Keino Classic, we envisage timely disbursement of these funds to organisers to allow them finalise preparations and contract elite international athletes for the show.

Leaving it too late will certainly be a spanner in the works, not only for athletics, but also for the government’s attempts at restoring normalcy.

Global competition is now in full throttle, with the Continental Tour’s opening leg successfully held in Turku (Finland) last Tuesday, with the second and third rounds scheduled for Budapest and Tokyo today and on Saturday, respectively, as the series slowly heads our way.

The top-tier Diamond League is also up and running, with blistering action witnessed in Monaco last Friday and Stockholm the next stop this weekend.

That the Ministry of Tourism has elected to use world marathon record holder Kipchoge and other elite sportspersons to market Kenya as a destination further augments the importance of sport in the grand scheme of things.

It behooves the government, therefore, to also make sure these athletes are granted the right ecosystem to prepare for their assignments on which Kenya will piggyback to trigger tourist inflows.

This includes a calculated opening up of training camps within the confines of public health protocols, and a measured rolling out of the eagerly-anticipated resumption of sports guidelines.

Makori is the Editor (Sports) at Nation Media Group. [email protected]