Top Sports Ministry Officials Summoned To State House Over Sh1B Afcon Stadiums Scandal

Top Sports ministry officials were yesterday summoned to explain how Sh1.057 billion was spent on consultancies related to African Cup of Nations (Afcon) stadiums.

Another Sh352 million was spent on regional consultancy services.

The ministry officials, led by Sports Principal Secretary Peter Tum, and others from Sports Kenya, the Sports Fund, and the Academy of Sports are accused of paying private consultants in total disregard of President William Ruto’s directive.

A high-profile source at State House revealed that the officials were questioned shortly after 2pm.

Extravagant spending

In the spotlight over the spending are members of the Sports Fund board, which is responsible for approving projects to be undertaken and payments for them.

The board comprises Tum, Harry K Kimtai (Health PS), Belio Kipsang (Educa-tion), Chris Kiptoo (National Treasury) and Jack Tuwei (Sports Fund chairman).

Besides the consultancies, the officials spent Sh700 million on construction work at Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani and Sh 167.35 million on the Kenya Sports Academy in Nairobi.

The ministry had allocated Sh1.533 billion for building 30 stadiums in constituencies across the country in the 2023/2024 financial year.

But it is the extravagant spending on shadowy consultants that has raised questions and sparked public anger, with demands for accountability.

“The consultancies were a skunk and flew in the face of a directive by President William Ruto. The officials have many questions to answer,” said another source at the Sports ministry who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals.

“The PS and other key actors were summoned to explain circumstances under which well-connected individuals were given millions in consultancy services yet there is nothing to show for it. Heads might roll at the Sports ministry. The Sports Fund has become a gravy train.”

The officials will be asked to explain when the consultancy services were advertised, provide evaluation reports, award letters for successful bidders, contract specifications, the source of the money, and the identities of the consultants.

There are also questions regarding any links between the consultancy firms and ministry officials, specifically PS Tum, Sports Kenya CEO Pius Metto, and Sports Fund CEO Nuh Ibrahim.

There’s has been a vicious fight to merge Sports Kenya and the Kenya Academy of Sports under the management of Metto.

The ministry officials defied a presidential directive not to engage the services of private consultants for Afcon 2027.

It is also said that senior ministry officials took advantage of the lacuna created by President Ruto’s decision on July 1 to dismiss all Cabinet secretaries to reach questionable deals that have now left Kenya’s quest to co-host the continent’s top flight football tournament on shaky ground.

Contract termination

Before he left the Sports ministry following the dissolution of the Cabinet, the then Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba, in a letter dated June 26, 2024, directed all departmental heads in the ministry and semi-autonomous government agencies under his docket to “immediately terminate the services of consultants for Afcon”.

The letter, with the heading, “cancellation of all consultant contracts and stan-dardisation of infrastructure project costs”, indicated that the government was “losing millions of shillings through the uncoordinated scheme”.

Tum said the ministry had hired consultants from the University of Nairobi.

But he assured a parliamentary committee that the ministry was reviewing the consultants’ contracts to assess their value.

“The ministry has terminated (the] contracts of some of the consultants firms in the new arrangements,” he said.