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{
    "id": 1556322,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1556322/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 264,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Osotsi",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "This money should be taken back to sports. If this money was put in sports, we would now be having at least 10 international stadiums in this country because of the huge amount of money that has come in here. If that was the case, we would have academies across the country. I earlier said that I am the one who originated the sports academy Motion in the National Assembly. I am happy the national Government has picked it up. However, they have been talking about this for the last seven years. In my county, they went to a place called Gisambai. They launched the Joe Kadenge Sports Academy with a lot of pomp. Unfortunately, two years after that launch, nothing is happening there yet this Fund has money. We have serious clubs in this country such as Gor Mahia, AFC Leopards and the other clubs in the Premier League yet they are struggling. Those clubs are struggling and we have the money that comes in, but goes to some strange things like promotion of arts, which we never see. Some of it even goes to UHC. I propose to Hon. Sifuna that the money that goes to this Fund be shared with counties. This is because sports is a shared function between the national Government and the county governments. The county government deals with sports activities and facilities while the national Government deals with the promotion of sports. If that is the case and they are receiving money through taxation in this Fund, then that money should also go to support our counties in terms of sports rather than supporting UHC yet our people are also being taxed on SHIF. This Bill is timely and we should all support it for us to grow sports in our counties. If we do so, we will keep our youths very busy and make sports an important economic activity for this country. Countries that have progressed in sports have this Fund. They use that money to develop sports, sports academies and sports stadia. In Kenya, when we saw good money in this Fund, we decided to divert it to other things that are not relevant to sports. I encourage the Members to fully support this Bill. I also encourage the Committee that deals with sports to move in with speed and do an inquiry around this Fund. It should find out what it does, how many associations have benefited, how many sportsmen have benefited and how many groups have benefited from this kind of thing. If we do so, we will save this country and will promote the legacy of the late President Mwai Kibaki, who remains as the only President who worked for this country. He is the only President who had a vision for this country. He came up with a Fund like this, which successive leadership has mutilated the good vision that he had to promote sports in this country. He came up with this kind of legislation to ensure that sports remains a key social pillar under the Vision 2030. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with those remarks, I support and encourage other Members to also back this progressive proposal to amend the Sports Act. Additionally, I suggest that we consider reinstating the provisions for this Fund within the Sports Act itself, rather than relying on regulations that are frequently altered. Even these regulations require scrutiny by the Committee of Delegated Legislation, as it is inappropriate to have a regulation on sports that is domiciled in the National Treasury instead of the Ministry of Sports. The administrator of the Fund is the Principal Secretary of the National Treasury. What role then does the Principal Secretary for Sports play? The individual responsible for managing sports cannot effectively do so when the funds meant for sports are held elsewhere in the National Treasury. There are significant gaps in these regulations. I believe the Committee of Delegated Legislation would do us a favour by conducting an inquiry into this matter. Similarly, the Sports The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. Acertified version of this Report can be obtained from the Director, Hansard and Audio Services, Senate."
}