Vihiga United FC’s future has been thrown into turmoil following reports that the county government has allegedly withdrawn financial support.
The unpleasant news broke out on social media, eliciting mixed reactions from club fans who called on the county government to explain why the team has been abandoned without a home ground and why players have gone for months without salaries. The move will also affect the Vihiga women's football team.
Club chairman Kahi Indimuli and head coach Sammy Okoth, however, said they are yet to receive any official communication from the county.
“I just learned this from social media and we can’t respond to it until we have the official communication from the county,” Indimuli said.
The reports came even as the club is still struggling to find footing in the Kenya Premier League. Vihiga, who were promoted after beating Kisumu All Stars in the National Super League playoffs early November, are currently placed 14th on the log.
The county government through the CEC for sports, gender and culture, Patrick Saisi, have since dismissed the claims as propaganda. Saisi said those who are generating such information are just seeking to demoralise the payers.
“Early last year we created a sports fund to finance those clubs within the county,” CEC Saisi said. He said this came after the Auditor General raised an audit query over the players’ payroll.
Saisi said the auditor general stopped the players from being placed on the payroll because they have not been interviewed for the jobs as prescribed by law.
“Auditor General further said the county cannot finance the clubs from development expenditures since the activities of the clubs are mainly recurrent expenditure,” he added.
Saisi further said the Auditor General elaborated that the county cannot single handedly finance the clubs, hence there must be justification to show that other partners exist.
The CEC for Sports, culture and gender said from the Auditor general’s point of view the governor came up with a Sport Fund Act which was approved by the County Assembly. The CEC said a committee was formed to run a Sh30 million kitty that would facilitate the activities of the two teams.
“We further sourced for partners agreements as we were advised by the Auditor General,” Saisi told the star.
