Kenya Rugby Union Chairman blames lack of sponsors for unpaid Kenya Lionesses salaries
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 10.04.24. | 10:12
Kenya Rugby Union Chairman Sasha Mutai attributes Kenya Lionesses' unpaid salaries to sponsorship shortage amid financial woes, promising resolution amidst talks with potential sponsors
Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) Chairman Sasha Mutai has blamed the union’s financial woes on the lack of sponsors. This is after reports did rounds on social media about the sad state of affairs in the Kenya Lionesses camp. The Lionesses lamented over unpaid salaries which accumulated up to seven months.
According to Mutai, he inherited a debt-ridden situation when he took office, which presented serious difficulties. He noted that ever since he'd been trying his hardest to make things right. He explained that the lack of sponsors for the Lionesses made things even worse.
“The Lionesses do not have sponsors. I will agree it is not an ideal situation but I would like to correct it in terms of the numbers. We are six months behind on some players and three months behind on others,” he started.
He continued: “When I came into office, we encountered eight months arrears. However, for the first time, the Shujaa and Lionesses are now being treated the same.”
The Chairman further noted that the union was in talks with various sponsors to help minimize the damage. Mutai also pointed out that court cases were hindering his attempts to secure sponsors for the union, promising that he was leaving no stone unturned in cleaning the mess at the Union.
“We are in talks with different sponsors to come in to help with sponsoring and insurance. Nobody wants to put in money where there is political infighting,” he averred.
He further called for patience from the rugby fraternity, noting that the best was yet to come, especially for the Lionesses.
“The women are being treated the same. We have brought in Chris Brown; the Lionesses went to a camp in South Africa. We admit that we are cash-strapped but we are working on it,” he assured.
The Kenya Lionesses missed out on a direct ticket to the Paris Olympics and will be hoping to succeed in the upcoming Final Olympic Qualification Tournament. However, the players are not in the right state of mind at the moment for obvious reasons and there's a need for the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU) and the Ministry of Sports to move with speed to solve the impasse.
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