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Sports ministry honchos in hot soup over pay dealsPeople Daily
The top brass in the Ministry of Sports is in the spotlight after details emerged on how they defied a presidential directive not to engage the services of private consultants for the African Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2027.
It is also said senior ministry officials took advantage of the lacuna created by President William Ruto’s decision on July 1 to dismiss all Cabinet Secretaries, to enter into questionable deals that have now left Kenya’s quest to co-host the continent’s top flight football tournament on shaky ground.
President Ruto is said to have given the directive following revelations that some clique of unscrupulous officials within the Sports Ministry were using the issue of consultancies to siphon millions of shillings meant for Afcon.
Senior officials
On the spot are Sports Principal Secretary Engineer Peter Tum, senior officials in the Ministry and those of Sports Kenya, Sports Fund and Academy of Sports over the decision to spend Sh1 billion to pay private consultants in total disregard of President Ruto’s directive.
Sources now say that top officials in the Ministry took advantage of President Ruto’s move to dismiss the entire Cabinet to procedurally reinstate the services of consultancies as well as cut deals.
Equally, blame is being laid on the ethnic composition of the Sports Fund Board which is charged with the responsibility to approve projects to be undertaken and payments. The Board comprises Sports Principal Secretary Tum, Harry K. Kimtai (Health PS), Belio Kipsang (Education), Dr Chris Kiptoo (National Treasury), Jack Tuwei (Sports Fund chairman).
Before he exited the Ministry when President Ruto dissolved the Cabinet, former Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba had in a letter dated June 26, 2024 directed all departmental heads in the ministry and Semi-Autonomous Government Agencies (SAGAs) under his docket to “immediately terminate the services of consultants for Afcon.”
The letter, with the heading, “cancellation of all consultant contracts and standardisation of infrastructure project costs, indicated that the government was “losing millions of shillings through the uncoordinated scheme.”
Project consultancies
“At a meeting recently held at State House under the chairmanship of His Excellency the President William Ruto, it was noted that project consultancies were among the conduits that escalate project costs. Consequently, all agencies under the Ministry are required to terminate all consultancies services on Afcon with immediate effect,” Ababu had stated in his letter.
Ababu had consequently directed Dr Edwin Tarno, the CEO of the Kenya School of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to provide any required support in designing related to stadium infrastructure.
Unlike the private consultancies, the Kenya School of TVETs, provided free services due to the fact that it is a government institution.
However, barely a few days after the dissolution of the Cabinet, senior officials in the Ministry moved with speed to bizarrely reinstate the services of consultancies in total disregard of the earlier directive and without following the laid down procedures.
Last Tuesday, Tum found himself on the receiving end when he was hard pressed to explain before the Parliamentary Sports and Culture Committee how the ministry utilised the funds allocated for Afcon.
Documents tabled before the committee by the Tum-led team indicated the ministry spent more than a billion on consultancy, raising questions about the government’s spending spree at a time when the economy is taking a toll on the public.
Tum told a shocked parliamentary committee team that Sh1 billion had been spent on stadium consultancy related to AFCON, while an additional Sh352 million was spent on regional consultancy services. On top of that, Sh1.5 billion was used for feasibility studies and topographical surveys to support the establishment of sports academies across Kenyan constituencies
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