Over the weekend, the Kenya Sevens team concealed the message on their Brand Kenya sponsored shirts in two of their three group matches at Paris Sevens.
The team did this in protest of lack of Sh4 million payment by brand Kenya to the players.They played with Brand Kenya’s “Make It Kenya” message in front of their jerseys concealed and left all the other brands open in a game where they gave Fiji a 22-19 defeat.
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The Seven players had played all the previous matches with the message revealed.
The Kenya Rugby Union issued a statement apologizing to Brand Kenya, and stated that they regret the move made by the players and do not take for granted the support shown by the organization.
KRU Chairman, Richard Omwela warned that those who incited the players to conceal Brand Kenya’s message will face dire consequences.
Chief of Staff and Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU) Nzioka Waita directed the sports ministry to find out why the Union failed to release payments to Kenya Sevens team.
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“KRU should take notice that there is a new law in place regulating sports federations. We can’t allow this sort of embarrassment at the international stage,” said Waita on his Twitter handle.
The Union also stated that it is 2.5 million that is yet to be released by Brand Kenya which already gave Sh4 million which was used in funding priority needs of the team such as player allowances for the London and Paris legs, Accommodation and Airfare for the extra management carried on the tour and outstanding training allowances.
They assured that the rest of the money will be paid to the players as soon as additional installments or money from other sources is received by KRU.
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