Ministry of Sports on the spot over funds sharing
By People.Reporter, February 23, 2022
Samuel Kariuki
The Ministry of Sports is on the spot over the management of Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed yesterday, for the second time, failed to honour an invitation to appear before a National Assembly standing committee to answer questions on the Fund.
The CS also failed to turn up on Thursday last week.
Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism of the August House is investigating the distribution of proceeds from the Fund under the current.
The committe has now sent a third invitation to CS Amina for another sitting on March 3, failure to which she will be summoned.
The formula stipulates that Universal Health Coverage gets an amount not exceeding 65 per cent of the Fund, Sports (35 per cent), Arts and Culture (20 per cent) while other government interventions get an amount not exceeding five per cent.
The cumulative tally of these allocations, the committee observes, adds up to 125 per cent and should be revised so that the tally adds up to 100 percent.
The committee chaired by Mavoko MP Patrick Makau says the Health docket is getting allocations from the National Budget and therefore the Fund’s apportioning formula should be reviewed so that the docket gets a smaller percentage.
The committee, in its report to the Budget and Appropriations Committee, projects that the Sports Fund would collect Sh15 billion during the 2022/23 financial year.
“The implementation of the funds collected has not been clearly provided. This may lead to mismanagement of the funds,” the report reads.
The committee says the board has failed to establish the basis for approving the ceiling for funding of sports, arts and social development since the Fund’s appropriation formula inserts the words “not exceeding”.
The Sports Committee has singled out funding for golf and requested that the ministry furnishes it with documentation to show that Kenya Open Golf Limited applied for funding.
Sh250m question
During the 2018/19 financial year, the Auditor General report indicates that Sports Fund disbursed Sh250 million to Kenya Open Golf Limited.
The Auditor General, however, observed that Kenya Open Golf Limited is a limited company and had not been registered with the Commissioner of Sports as required in order to qualify for funding.
“In the circumstances, the disbursement of Sh250,140,000 to the Kenya Open Golf Limited is therefore irregular and not a proper charge to public funds,” the Auditor General’s report reads.
The committee has also observed that the Sports ministry has failed to publish crucial documents detailing the operation and management of the Fund.