Kenya captain to London 2012 Olympics, David Rudisha, poses with his men 800m gold medal he won in a world record. PHOTO/FILE
NAIROBI, February 29 – A parliamentary committee has faulted the National Treasury for failing to allocate Sh800 million for Kenya’s 2016 Rio Olympics team ahead of the Summer Games slatted for August in Brazil.
National Assembly Labour and Social Welfare chairman David Were said they will be forced to seek the funds elsewhere to enable Kenya participate in the prestigious event where the national men and women rugby teams have already qualified as the only team sport.
“We are going to participate in the Olympics and yet there is no funds factored so we are asking the Committee to see if we can raise this money from somewhere else,” said the House Labour and Social Welfare committee chairman.
National Olympics Committee of Kenya had set aside a budget of Sh558.5m as they anticipate sending a huge team in virtually all sports disciplines.
Also missing from the Ministry of Sports budget allocations is Sh1.3 billion which will enable Kenya host the 2017 IAAF World Youth Championships from July 11-16 at Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium.
The Local Organising Committee announced it had been given a budgetary ceiling of Sh2billion which was presented to the Cabinet last week.
Were expressed concerns that Kenya’s preparations to successfully host the youth event opened to athletes below 18 years would be hampered if the funds were not made available.
“We are hosting the Under-17 IAAF World Youth Championships next year in July but it has not been captured in the budget policy statement. We will have to find a way of raising this Sh1.3 billion because we have already received the flag which we got from Cali, Colombia; yet there is no money factored for this,” Were said while submitting his committee’s report on the budget policy statement.
The Budget Policy Statement is submitted to National Assembly for scrutiny by the National Treasury, and it sets out priority programs for economic transformation and building a shared prosperity to be implemented in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework for 2014/15–2016/17.
Were told the House Liaison Committee which is hearing submissions on the Budget Policy Statement that Sh500 million needed to implement the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya has not been factored in.
“Doping is a menace now to our athletes and there is a threat that Kenya may be banned just like Russia. The condition that we have been given is to set up this body which we have done but unfortunately no funding has been factored,” he appealed.
Kenya, who is placed under the World Anti-doping Agency (WADA) watch list, has until May to comply with the WADA code or be banned from competing in the Olympics.
