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{
    "id": 874701,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/874701/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 256,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Makueni, WDM-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Daniel Maanzo",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2197,
        "legal_name": "Daniel Kitonga Maanzo",
        "slug": "daniel-kitonga-maanzo"
    },
    "content": "sector. Currently, Kenya is receiving a lot of tourists because our athletes advertise the country abroad. Many people visit the country to experience sporting activities and see where those sportspeople train and do research to find out whether there is something special with the Kenyan athletes. Currently, many chartered planes are landing in Mombasa with people who have come to experience the great country of Kenya. Sports play a very important role in promoting tourism. They will even do much better than what the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade could do or any other form of advertising. Sportspeople are covered internationally on Cable News Network (CNN). The whole world gets to know in a matter of seconds that Kenya is leading in sports. During the Olympics in 2008 and a Kenyan, Wanjiru, led in the race, for over 40 minutes, he was the only person being featured, announced and advertised by all the sports channels. That evening, he was featured in the major news channels of the world. That was a great job done by those athletes. Many times, the athletes get a raw deal in terms of the sort of money they go home with, the fame they enjoy, the resources and even their own management. We need enough funds to train them on how to deal with success when one is so young and to inspire and encourage others to make a career in sports. If we were to handle and fund sports sufficiently, we would get many young people occupied, employed and sure that they can earn through the sport. We have a lot of talent in football. We have seen the case of Mariga and his big success in the world. Our own players play outside there in the big leagues and are paid serious money. Unless we have sporting facilities, we will not tap more Marigas in this country. There is the issue of funding the stadia in at least every region in the country, including Makueni Constituency, where we now have a stadium which was being constructed and has now stalled. We have a very important stadium in Nyeri in Central Province which has never been completed. They are very few. If we were to invest very well, we could host the Olympics in the country. The African Championships have been held in the country. A lot of times, the opportunity goes to Ethiopia simply because our facilities are not fully developed. We look forward to a day when we will bid and host the Olympics in Kenya. We can even host the World Cup in Kenya if the facilities were there. The only reason we lose at the international scenario is because we do not have the facilities. We have not organised our sporting activities properly so that we can pay people. When we made the Act in 2013, the use of technology was not as high as today. Right now, we are able to collect the monies from betting companies, direct online and from other big sponsors like Safaricom. This also includes motor sports which has been sponsored a lot of times by the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB). They found it to be loss-making in terms of returns. They have now stuck with it for years. We need many other banks. It is well structured at the moment. You find banks like the Co-operative Bank and many other corporate entities are willing to sponsor sports. They know that if they are used well, they are specific and will be accounted for at the national Budget. We have serious challenges in the funding of sports. That has discouraged a lot of serious athletes who can do very well for this country."
}