The Sports Act 2013 will help rid funds’ mismanagement in sports federations in the country.
Sports Comissioner Gordon Oluoch. PHOTO:/DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD
Sports Commissioner Gordon Oluoch said the enactment and implementation of the law will be instrumental in ensuring accountability.
“The Sports Act is geared towards streamlining the sector, which will be done through the Sports Registrar,” said Oluoch.
He said some sports federations manipulate their constitutions in a self-serving manner to serve certain interests, especially to protect the incumbent.
“They make sure that the incumbent continues to stay in office as long as possible. The Registrar will work on some of these aspects, ensuring that the constitutions conform to the Act and the federations respect the needs of Kenyans,” said Oluoch.
He was speaking during a press conference to launch the National Sports Fund at the Sports Ministry headquarters in Nairobi yesterday.
“If we have good constitutions and the federations follow them to the letter, they will be accountable and will therefore be able to attract sponsorships,” he said.
Oluoch said some corporate bodies have already indicated their willingness to put money into the industry but accountability needs to be guaranteed.
“If we clean up the federations, we fetch money through National Sports Fund,” he said.
Oluoch said they will investigate corruption claims against Athletics Kenya on the budgets for the 2011 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
“Some facts may be right while others may be wrong but we are going back, as a ministry, to the basics and due diligence in ensuring that requests made by federations are genuine by counter-checking their budgets.”
He added: “We shall also be sending audit teams, if necessary, to counter-check and ensure that the funds from the ministry are properly accounted for.”
He said he would not want it to appear as if the State is micromanaging federations, but there is need to ensure they are well self-regulated.
By JONATHAN KOMEN, The Standard