Sports lottery a panacea to lack of funds in industry?

What you need to know:

  • The Sports Act was the product of many years of consultations, studies and debates.

  • After several debates the Kenya Sports Act was eventually  enacted.

When the Sports Act 2013 was signed into law it it was expected to answer the problem of sports funding in the country.

The Act provided for a National Sports Fund  that was expected to tackle the perpetual financial woes faced by sports people, clubs, national teams and federations.

 The Act also legally created administrative entities such as  the Sports Kenya board, the Kenya Academy of Sports, the Anti-doping Agency of Kenya and the Sports Disputes Tribunal. The Sports Act was the product of many years of consultations, studies and debates.

Close to Sh200 million was spent in coming up with the sports act proposal as the sports ministry personnel travelled far and wide to learn from other nations.

Among the countries  visited were Australia, UK and South Africa, who have had very successful sports policies and the results are there for all to see.

DEBATES

The team even visited Nigeria, Africa’s most populous county. But theirs is a messy story of how more than N500 million (Sh143 million) was wasted on a failed National Sports Lottery project soon after it was rolled out.

After several debates the Kenya Sports Act was eventually  enacted.

 The provisions of the Act allows for the creation of a sport lottery and other investments whose proceeds will go towards financing sports persons and sports organizations.

If Kenya is to follow the 21-year-old UK model, which is ranked the most successful funding, the National Lottery money raised will be distributed to independent organisations or registered federations.

These organisations and federations will all be affiliated to the government, and will follow strict guidelines when deciding who should receive finding from money raised through the sports lottery.

The management board will proceed to track the performance of the athletes under their stable to evaluate the progress  and identify areas for improvements for the future.

ELITE SPORT

Since national lottery funding for elite sport began in the UK in 1997 for example, British athletes have won 633 Olympic and Paralympic medals. Also Great Britain have re-emerged as an international sporting power. More than 4,600 athletes have thus far benefited from government funding.

According to Sports Principal Secretary Kirimi Kaberia, the government shall provide the seed money for the lottery which is expected to be established before June..

The lottery is expected to become self-sustaining and make consign to the waste bin stories of broke federations.

“Government shall definitely provide the seed capital to get the project up and running. But we have several ideas of how the lottery itself can generate money for the benefit of the athletes in this country and sports in general,” he said.

LOTTERY

But what if the lottery would add to Kenya’s gambling problem, which is particularly prevalent in sport? And how will government ensure that corrupt individuals do not bring down the noble idea?

“As Kenyans we need to start doing things transparently and honestly. Let us have corrupt individuals punished for their actions as we move on, but let us not fail to try for fear of corruption,” Kaberia said.

“If we consolidate the fund, it will be easier to do things that individual federations cannot do such as improving infrastructure and improving the levels of coaching and refereeing.

The PS added: “The issue of betting is a moral one, but if we make it about the public good, then it takes a new direction. It is more sensible for people to engage in gambling so as to help local sports development as opposed to just doing it for fun.”