Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba on Thursday dismissed claims that his ministry spent an exorbitant amount of money to facilitate the travel of Team Kenya to the Olympics in Paris, France.
In a statement, the CS directed the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOCK) to prepare and present the full budget incurred in facilitating the athletes.
According to Namwamba, the planning of the Paris Olympics 2024 was done in line with the government's austerity measures centred on transparency and accountability.
While issuing the directive, the CS ordered NOCK to unveil the provisional budget initially agreed between it, the Sports Principal Secretary and the accounting officer.
The CS also ordered the Olympic committee to list all the names of athletes, medical officers, and other officials who travelled to Paris and specify the role of each traveller.
The document would also contain a revised scale of allowances and rewards for athletes, including all other austerity measures the Ministry had implemented.
"Prepare a detailed report on the process, status and cost of the ceremonial, training and competition kit for Team Kenya procured by NOCK," Namwamba directed.
“The delegation is to be kept at the bare minimum as directed by myself and affirmed by the PMC. The priority is athletes, their coaches and medics.”
According to the sports CS, both the Team Kenya Delegation and the final budget are to be presented at the next meeting of the PMC meeting.
"We wish Team Kenya good health and great success as they fly our national flag on the world's grandest sporting stage," read the notice in part.
Ababu Namwamba's directive comes against public uproar following allegations of exorbitant expenditure incurred by the government to facilitate the travel of Kenyan athletes to the Paris Olympics.
A section of Kenyans raised concern over the number of officials accompanying the athletes to the Olympic games that are set to kick off on July 26.
