The Ministry of Youths Affairs and Sports has bowed to pressure and agreed to pay teams and winners in the Talanta Hela tournament their cash awards running into millions of shillings.
The ministry has assured the Council of Governors that it was working on the payment, while attributing the delay to failure by the participants to provide bank accounts details.
The move comes after the council wrote to Cabinet Secretary Ababa Namwamba seeking clarification on failure to release the cash award two months after the tournament.
Last year, the ministry held the tournament across all the counties, which culminated in the finals in November with the top teams promised to get Sh5 million each.
But two months down the line, the participating teams and coaches have not received a penny leading to a backlash from the governors.
In the letter to the governors, the ministry attributed failure to pay the teams and winners to failure to open bank accounts by participants as advised.
A letter signed by Dr Davit Okoti from the ministry assured the governors and the students that they would eventually get their proceeds.
He said that as part of the tournament rules, all the teams and individuals had been advised to open bank accounts with KCB to facilitate cash transfer.
“The process was, however, stagnated as most parents have not submitted the required bank account details and we are asking them to share the documents with us,” according to the letter.
Earlier, the CoG through its chairperson Ann Waiguru, said the ministry had promised to reward the best teams, individuals and all the participating teams.
“The finals were held in November with the winning team promised Sh5 million, the second Sh3 million, third Sh2 million and fourth place Sh1 million,” she said.
“None so far has received the cash,” she said.
This unfulfilled promise, Waiguru said, has led to unrest in the community due to the perception that county officers were withholding the funds.
“We kindly request your prompt attention to settle the outstanding payments and a written response outlining the timelines for the disbursement of these payments,” she said.
Caucus chairman Mophat Mandela said counties were dissatisfied with the manner that the tournament was conducted.
Mandela, who is the Kakamega Sports executive, said failure to release the funds had created tension and suspicion in the counties.
“The students involved in the tournament are now accusing county officials of embezzling the award cash and we have not received even a coin,” he said.