President Willaim Ruto has assured sports personalities of ring fencing of the sports fund from other projects but everything pertaining to sports.
Speaking in Keiyo South at the burial of slain Marathoner Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a road crash last weekend along the Kaptagat-Eldoret road, the head of state has urged the treasury ministry to operationalize the fund to its intended purpose.
The fund lies under the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund Regulations, 2018, and is responsible for monitoring the use of funds by various federations and sports organizations under its chief executive officer Nuh Ibrahim to operationalize the Talanta Hela initiative
“We have now reinstated the sports fund to deal with only matters [of] sports,” says President William Ruto, adding that all the facilities asked for during Friday’s funeral for marathon record holder Kelvin Kiptum would be granted.
“We are going to adjust our reward system – that it also becomes money for the future,” he also promised during his address to mourners – referring to the short working life of top athletes compared to other jobs and the financial precarity they face.
While mourning Kiptum and vowing to accord prominence of his fellow compatriots President Ruto has he urged the sports ministry to ensure that all athletes are signed in to pension following their appeal to the government to ensure their welfare is considered
“Money will be put in a pension system to support athletes after they retire,” the president added, tasking the sports ministry with carrying this out.
The death of the twenty four year old sent shock waves across the globe at a time he was expected to run the Rotter-dam race and the upcoming Paris olympics where he had set to run under two hours.
He is survived by two children and a widow Asenatah Kiptum