CS Amina accuses Treasury of derailing sports development

Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed when she appeared before the National Assembly’s Sports Committee in Nairobi on October 24, 2019. PHOTO | COURTESY |

What you need to know:

  • Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said on Thursday took on the National Treasury accusing it of historically underfunding the sports industry and in most cases refusing to release funds allocated to manage sports and sporting activities.

The Ministry of Sports has blamed the National Treasury for the delay in the completion of the 11 modern stadiums, four of which were a key pillar in Jubilee party’s 2013 pre-election pledge.

Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed on Thursday accused Treasury of historically underfunding the sports industry and in most cases refusing to release funds allocated to manage sports and sporting activities.

“We have always budgeted for our programmes, but often times the Ministry of Sports gets less of what is captured in printed estimates. The question to pose at this juncture is why the Ministry never gets resources allocated in printed estimates,” Mohamed said.

The CS was speaking when she appeared before the Committee on Sports of the National Assembly to give an update of the status of stadiums in the country.

As one of their campaign pledges in 2013, President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto promised to construct five state-of-the-art stadiums in Kisumu, Mombasa, Garissa, Nakuru and Eldoret.

In the run up to the 2017 general election, the two leaders enhanced their promise by nine extra stadiums to better their 2013 promise.

They cited Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Chuka, Wote, Moyale Nyeri, Kiambu and West Pokot as the venues of the stadiums.

On Thursday, the CS told the committee the stadiums are at various stages of completion, ranging from 15 and 75 per cent but insisted they could be completed in time if the National Treasury released the funds on time.

“If we get the resources allocated to the Ministry we can complete what we have started,” she said, adding that extra funds could be drawn from the recently created Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund.

BILLIONS ALLOCATED

In the 2016/17 financial year, the Ministry was allocated Sh2.7 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of the 11 stadiums, but the National Treasury released a paltry Sh424 million.

In the following year, the final printed estimates to the Ministry was Sh100 million but only a quarter, Sh25 million, was provided by the National Treasury for the Ministry to run its development programmes.

In the last financial year, 2018/19, final printed estimates was Sh400 million which, although released in total, was not enough for the Ministry to fully execute the construction works.

Mohamed told the committee, chaired by Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka, that the ministry has been allocated Sh500 million for the seven stadia to facilitate the payment of pending Bills so that contractors can resume works.

Further, Sports Kenya, the implementing agency in the construction of stadiums, has filed an application to the Sports, Arts and Development Fund for an extra Sh500 million for the completion of the pending works.

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE

She told the committee that the Ministry has formed a technical committee to visit all 11 venues to verify the extend of works that have been done so far and prepare a report covering outstanding works so that the Ministry can have a proper information on the status of the construction.

The committee, which has six engineers from the department of public works, will submit its report in the next two weeks.

The records submitted to the committee by the CS show that construction at Kamariny stadium in Iten was awarded a cost of Sh287 million and so far only Sh58 million had been paid with only 20 per cent of the works done. Kipchoge Keino Stadium in Eldoret was awarded at a cost of Sh629 million and so far Sh165 million had been paid with 60 per cent of works done.

Estimated cost for the construction of Chuka stadium is Sh274 million and so far Sh119 million had been paid. Completion rate is 75 per cent.

The construction of Marsabit stadium was awarded at a cost of Sh295 million, Sh88 million has so far been paid with the completion of works at 10 per cent.

Karatu Stadium was to be constructed at a cost of Sh259 million, the CS said Sh62 Million has so far been paid and the work rate is at 20 per cent. Wote Stadium in Makueni County estimated cost was Sh299 million and so far Sh894 million had been paid.

Nyayo Stadium, Moi Stadium in Kisumu, Mombasa County Stadium as well as the Kenyatta Stadium and Kinoru Stadium in Machakos and Meru counties respectively were all supposed to benefit from a rehabilitation programme after Kenya won the rights to host the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (Chan).

WRONG PRIORITY

However, football continental body, Caf, found the venues lacked the standards of hosting international matches and withdrew Kenya’s hosting rights.

Caf cited poor dressing rooms, anti-doping room, lack of good drainage system and quality playing surface as some of the requirements needed in all of the four hosting venues.

CS Mohamed told the committee the National Treasury withdrew funds allocated for the rehabilitation of the stadiums the moment Caf withdrew the rights.

However, the CS found herself in the crosshairs of the members of the committee, who accused her of lacking focus in the management of issues affecting the Ministry.

Munyaka challenged the CS to take charge and seek permission to draw more funds from the Sports Fund to complete the construction of the stadiums saying the delay could cause effects.

Members of the committee challenged the CS to explain why the monies in the Fund cannot be used to complete the pending works.

Munyaka told the CS to consider using the fund to expedite the works while Luanda MP Chris Omulele accused the Ministry of having wrong priorities in the use of the kitty.