L. MathekaTuwei’s stay at the Sports Fund oversight board extended by three years
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Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 18.11.22. | 13:08
The Fund was operationalized in 2019 with the main source of revenue being proceeds from betting, gaming and lotteries, however, only a third of the total sum is allocated exclusively to Sports.
Jack Tuwei, the man who has been at the helm of Athletics Kenya (AK) since 2015, taking over from Isaiah Kiplagat, has been appointed to chair the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund Oversight Board (SASDF) for a period of three years in a gazette notice dated 18 November 2022.
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) retired General was first appointed to the seven-member board in 2018 alongside former vice president Moody Awori and five Principal Secretaries (PS) from the Ministries of Education, Arts, Health, National Treasury and Sports.
Formerly the National Sports Fund, the Fund was established through the enactment of the Sports Act 2013 Section 12 of Part III and domiciled within the ministry responsible for sports.
The main goal for establishing the Fund was to raise funds to facilitate growth and development of the sports industry in the country. In addition, the fund was to be used to train the necessary sports personnel and support the cash award scheme for the purpose of enhancing competitiveness among the country’s sports men and women.
It was identified as a flagship project in the Vision 2030 and given prominence in the first and second Medium Term Plans in a testament to the government’s commitment to elevate the sports industry which has a huge potential of creating income opportunities for our youth through sports professionalism.
The Fund was operationalized in 2019 with the main source of revenue being proceeds from betting, gaming and lotteries.
Earlier this year, controversy rocked the fund after an audit unearthed irregularities in the management of the multibillion-shilling project. In April, Auditor General Nancy Gathungu said the fund has failed to account for Sh8.9 billion disbursements to various sports federations.
The amount included Ksh 6.94 billion for the development of sports and Ksh 1.8 billion for social development including universal health. Also, Ksh 218 million for the promotion and development of arts and Ksh 66 million for monitoring and evaluation.
Gathungu said the review of the Fund’s accounts as of June 2021 showed that there were no supporting documents to back the transfers to government agencies and sports organisations.
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