of a rebirth of sport in Kenya. We have a
number of countries that have benefited
from such Funds in building teams to
sterling performances and long-term
investment in the future.
In South Africa, we have programs such as
Sport for All – a trust fund whose monies
come from the National Gambling and
Lottery Board. This sees a fraction of
monies generated from casino gambling
as well as national betting and lotteries
companies deposited in the trust fund.
The programme has been successful
in initiating youth programs for most
of South Africa’s sporting disciplines
including cricket, football and rugby to
mention but a few.
In the UK, the country has a number of
active and well-managed sports trust
programs, which include the National
Lottery Fund, which disburse over £600
million per year. Others are UK Sport
Enactment of the Sports Act in 2013 was a
step in this direction, but we have to move
beyond the written laws and act. National
sports bodies that are sponsored well
have multiple revenue streams to ensure
sustainability of their sports activities
across the year. The reward for this would be
The success of these programmes has seen the supplementary monies from the Sports
the UK emerge as a major sporting nation Lottery Fund once it starts functioning.
in most sporting disciplines and good
Beyond this, we can keep harping the same
showing in international sporting events.
This was the case in the 2012 Olympic and tunes year-in, year-out.
Paralympic Games held in London.
- which manages monies from both the
Lottery Fund and affiliate bodies such
as NOC among others and UK Youth
that ensures youth programmes for not
only sports but also educational, arts and
sciences in the schools.
To bring us home, sports will remain
secondary to our national psyche until
there is a deliberate and sustained effort
to invest in it. Beyond the national levies
imposed on corporate firms and businesses,
which have sought to engage in sport, the
Government has to take a lead in investing
and providing an environment to nurture
sports.
Richard Wanjohi is a sports enthusiast
who works as a market researcher by day
and gravitates to sport by night. You can
commune with him at: RWanjohi@gmail.
com, or @RWanjohi.