Kenya to reward athletes better, says Sports PS Mueke
Sports Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke speaks when he appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism at Continental House, Nairobi on April 18, 2022.
What you need to know:
- The PS had appeared before the Dan Wanyama-led Committee, alongside Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa to respond to questions over the spike of match fixing cases in the country.
- Currently, the government rewards gold medallist at all major world competitions with Sh 1 million.
The government is in the process of reviewing the existing cash reward scheme for Kenyan athletes, Sports Principal Secretary Jonathan Mueke has said.
Speaking on Tuesday when he appeared before the National Assembly Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism at Continental House, Nairobi, Mueke said the current rewarding scheme used to appreciate Kenyan athletes excelling at major world events is outdated.
“We have a cash awards scheme that is almost complete,” said Mueke, adding it will be subjected to public participation before being adopted.
He said that the Task Force that has been tasked with coming up with the new scheme is looking at what other countries have done on the same, so as to come up with a better scheme.
“Once we come up with a good draft, we will be seeking the indulgence of your committee, so that we can get the input of Parliament on this, and we can come up with a policy on cash awards for the men and women, who make our country proud globally by winning elite international competitions.”
The PS had appeared before the Dan Wanyama-led Committee, alongside Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa to respond to questions over the spike of match fixing cases in the country.
Currently, the government rewards gold medallist at all major world competitions with Sh 1 million.
Silver and bronze medallists pocket Sh 750,000 and Sh500,000 respectively.
Mueke said that while national team players are not well remunerated they cannot do much since it is the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) that sets the allowance rates.
Mwendwa had earlier told the Committee that Harambee Stars players are each paid a paltry Sh1,000 as daily allowance when they are in camp in the country.
They receive $60 (Sh8085 as per the current exchange rate) each when they are outside the country.
Mwendwa said that the government had previously turned down FKF's request for an increment of allowance paid to Harambee Stars players since the rates set by SRC cuts across all sports disciplines.
“I do agree though that they (allowances) are not attractive for our national team members, and something can be done to just give a little better allowance to them,” said Mueke, adding that the Ministry of Sports is keen to monetise sports talents through the Talanta Hela initiative.
He said that the government is overwhelmed thus it cannot pay players' salaries. The PS said the Ministry of Sports is seeking to address the financial challenge that Kenyan teams are grappling with by introducing them to corporate sponsors, having fans back in stadiums to raise more funds through ticket sales and sponsors willing to come on board in their activities.
"Globally we are a sporting giant so we need to use this as a resource for our country. We must brand and package ourselves so that we have tourists coming from all over the world not just to see our wildlife but our sports museums, training centres and mingle with our sports heroes and heroines," said Mueke.
