Ruto’s budget spells more trouble for broke Kenyan sports

Maybe it is not all doom and gloom. Maybe we shall all own brand new houses in seven years.

Maybe our national debt will reduce to zero by the time President William Ruto hands over power to his successor.

Maybe, after this administration collects the additional Sh130 billion in tax, we will begin enjoying the convenience of world class roads and highways, perfectly equipped hospitals and a functional, thriving education sector where parents will be falling over themselves trying to get their children enrolled in public schools.

Maybe, as the President keeps telling us every week, his repulsive tax-raising blockbuster, which nobody wants to watch, is just a temporary bitter pill that will lead to a better life in future. Maybe.

It is a tough time for preachers in Kenya so I am careful not to sound like a prophet, but it is hard to see a better future when all we have as benchmarks are a gazillion instances where public monies ended up in the pockets of a few individuals.

The big picture for East Africa’s largest economy (Kenya) following President Ruto’s first budget reading remains one of weak growth and laughable ambition.

What will surely happen starting next month is that commodity bills will be twice what they were in 2021.

Continued stagnation and a decline in relative living standards will be the result. And sports will not be spared.

The expected rise in fuel and bills will force clubs to pay so much more for their training, travel and lodging to honour local games beginning next season.

Across all disciplines in Kenya, few teams have sponsors worth talking of, and the leagues themselves often operate by the grace of God.

Ever since corporates fled Kenyan sport due to mismanagement, the local sports fraternity has been held down by local and international betting companies.

Yes, those companies have their weaknesses, but they have come through for clubs and teams when nobody could.

Yet, over the years, and even today, the betting firms have been targets of never ending punitive tax deductions, all seemingly aimed at crippling the sector. Has anyone thought of where local sports would or will be without the betting firms?

On one thing, politicians, economists and commentators on either side of Kenya’s political divide can agree: Kenya is broke. President William Ruto is not even pretending the new budget will fix these problems.

Perhaps such candour is to his credit. But by increasing the cost of living and expecting clubs to fend for themselves, what we are doing is forcing local sports administrators to stretch their budgets beyond capacity.

And if we continue this way, match fixing, which everyone is engaging in anyway, will be the order of the day. Cases of talented sports men quitting the game and opting to become chefs, boda boda riders and Uber drivers will be the order of the day. The levels of officiating? Expect those to go down even further.

One hopes that President Ruto will remember that he pitched himself as the Hustlers’ candidate, and puts a heavy hand in tackling the immense challenge of funding in local sports so that the picture becomes hopeful for once.

Because, sports is hustle business.

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