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A senior Finance Officer in the Ministry of Sports has told a Nairobi court that the government allocated Sh583.5 million to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Stephen Muthuma told Milimani Chief Magistrate Lucas Onyina that he was shocked that athletes experienced problems during the games yet the government had fully paid for accommodation, accreditation, games service services DRMT (Delegates Registration meetings) air tickets and medical expenses.

While being led in his evidence-in-chief by State Prosecutor Anderson Gikunda, Muthuma said he received approval from the then Principal Secretary Richard Ekai to transfer Sh583,540,966 for the games.
He was testifying in a case where former Team Kenya Chef-de-Mission for Rio 2016 Olympics Stephen Arap Soi NOCK Secretary General Francis Kinyili Paul, Vice President Pius Ochieng are charged with stealing money and sportswear intended for the team at the Rio Olympics.

Onyina heard that the Sports Ministry had planned to spend Sh499,777,426 on the team and Sh83,683540 on the National Olympics Committee-Kenya (Nock).

“This budget was approved and brought to my office for implementation. We transferred Sh29,829,000 to the Nock account on July 15, 2016 as per their request dated June 20, 2016 which had been approved by the steering committee for accreditation, accommodation, games services and medical services,” Muthuma testified.