The government will not finance the Deputy President William Ruto’s Ksh50 million reward to the Harambee Stars.
Ruto pledged to pay the national football team the amount if they qualified for the 2019 AFCON which they did.
Principal Secretary in the ministry of sports Kirimi Kaberia while appearing before the Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism on Tuesday distanced himself from the pledge saying the pronouncement was made in his absence.
Kaberia appeared before the committee chaired by the Machakos Town MP Victor Munyaka to present the ministry’s budget proposal for the 2019-20 financial year.
Munyaka expressed concern that the money is yet to be paid and could lead to low morale in the camp but made it clear it was not possible to factor it into the budget because the pronouncement by Ruto was not an official government position but a person pledge.
Read: DP Ruto Pledges Ksh50 Million To Harambee Stars If They Beat Ethiopia On Sunday
“It cannot be in the budget because it was not an official government promise,” Munyaka told the PS on Tuesday, suggesting that if the Ksh50 million is part of the Ksh244 million Harambee Stars budget for AFCON, then it should be separated because the gift was a pledge tied on the performance of the team on the road to qualifying for the tournament.
He added: “The promise must be honoured because failure to do so will trigger a hue and cry in the team and puncture the morale of the boys ahead of the tournament.”
Stars need Ksh224 million to participate in this year’s AFCON scheduled for Egypt from June.
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