By KPC Sports Reporter
The National Assembly Committee on Sports and Culture has rejected a proposal by the Sports Ministry to increase Kenya’s budget allocation for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) from Ksh.3.5 billion to Ksh.5 billion.
Committee chair Dan Wanyama argued the justification was inadequate, stressing that Kenya is co-hosting the tournament with Uganda and Tanzania under the Pamoja bid.
“In fact, you should be cutting down your budget because the championship is being hosted by three states. Your push for an enhanced allocation should not be based on a country that single-handedly hosted AFCON,” he said.
The rejection came as Sports Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi disclosed that Kenya has not yet remitted the mandatory Ksh.3.5 billion hosting fee to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), while Uganda and Tanzania have already complied.
The Ministry had sought the committee’s intervention to include the payment in a supplementary budget to avoid jeopardising Kenya’s standing with CAF.
Mr. Mwangi defended the proposed increment, citing a benchmarking visit to Morocco’s AFCON, where he observed higher standards requiring enhanced funding.
However, MPs insisted that co-hosting should ease Kenya’s fiscal burden. Despite rejecting the increase, the committee assured support in engaging the Treasury to release the hosting fee.
The Budget Policy Statement sets the Sports Department’s ceiling at Ksh.25.49 billion for 2026/27, with Ksh.7.38 billion for recurrent expenditure and Ksh.18.11 billion for development.
The session also exposed wider funding pressures across the Ministry. Culture PS Ummi Bashir revealed her department requires Ksh.5.7 billion for recurrent expenditure but was allocated Ksh.2.8 billion, leaving many projects stalled.
MPs further questioned allocations such as Ksh.37 million (later revised to Ksh.23.6 million) for presidential county visits during cultural events, terming it duplication.
Under the Creative Economy docket, Ksh.145 million was allocated for policy and legislative development, while PS Jacobs Fikirini disclosed a shortfall of Ksh.2.043 billion in funding for the Film Services Programme, which had sought Ksh.2.891 billion but received only Ksh.848.17 million.