Financially struggling players who ply their trade in the Kenyan Premier League have something to smile about after the Ministry of Sports rolled out a stimulus package yesterday.
The selected players will each pocket Sh 10, 000 from the ministry as part of their plan to bail them from economic effects brought by coronavirus.
The ministry had last month written to Football Kenya Federation requesting for players information from across five leagues. Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed revealed that the cash will be sent directly to the players through mobile phone cash transfer.
The development comes barely a week after her office received Sh 5 million support from a host of betting firms. National Super League sponsors Betika had earlier supported the ministry's bid to cushion sportsmen with Sh 15 million.
“We have begun rolling out stimulus packages for players who feature in the KPL. We will send the money directly to their phones and we are hoping to run the exercise in the next 15 days and later take stock and see who has benefited and who is still in distress,” she said
Besides supporting KPL players, Amina said they will continue extending a helping hand to other sportsmen from other disciplines. She disclosed that her efforts to help the struggling athletes received a boost after the sports fund released another sh 30 million to add on the Sh20 million collected earlier. She appealed to corporates and well-wishers to join her in actualising her blueprint in assisting vulnerable athletes.
“The Sports Fund has given 30 million to add on the Sh20m and we are asking for more. KPL was identified as the immediate target with each player pocketing sh 10,000 but we will extend the same to other athletes. We are still appealing to other corporates to help us support our sportsmen who have brought pride to our country. We will soon launch a pay bill number to help collect the donations as we seek to run this program for two to three months,” she added.
Amina, in the meantime, delivered the most awaited news on the expected date of the reopening of the Nyayo National Stadium. She said the facility will be handed over to Sports Kenya at the end of the month.
