President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday witnessed the disbursement of over 181 million shillings($1.7 million) to Kenya’s elite athletes, to complete a process of compensating the champions since 2010.
A total of 3,338 athletes received the cash awards for participating in 32 international sporting events covering Olympics, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and the World Under 18 and Under 20 junior competitions.
The money to compensate the athletes was drawn from the National Sports Fund.
World beaters Geoffrey Kamworor (the world half marathon champion), Beatrice Chepkoech (world steeplechase record holder) and Alphas Kishoyian (400m gold medallist) received the cheque on behalf of their colleagues, some of whom are out of the country for international competitions.
Kenyatta gave the Ministry of Sports three months to come up with a practical compensation policy for athletes who “bring pride and glory” to the country through their stellar performances in international competitions.
“Moving forward, I am directing the Ministry to formulate a realistic compensation policy for all athletes and launch it within 3 months,” said President Kenyatta
The President further directed that all Kenyan sportsmen going for international competitions must be fully catered for before departing the country.
Through the National Sports Fund, the President reiterated that all sportsmen representing the country in international tournaments will be fully facilitated covering provision of kits, tickets, accommodation and allowances.
JK/as/APA