How institutional neglect is bleeding the very soul of Kenya's sporting talent

Harambee Stars after a past match at Kasarani Stadium. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

It’s every athlete’s dream to represent their country; hence, donning the Kenyan jersey is supposed to be the highest and most fulfilling feat of a sporting career.

It's a sacred covenant sealed with the expectation that the nation will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with its ambassadors.

Yet, behind the triumphant faces and the blinding camera flashes lies an agonising, rot-ridden reality. Kenya’s sports ecosystem is trapped in a tragic cycle of systemic institutional failure.

From sleeping on concrete ministry floors, to living in fear of being kicked to the streets in a foreign land over unpaid hotel bills, to being stranded at airports and their dignity being lowered to the point of publicly begging for their dues and fundraising on social media, Kenyan athletes have indeed endured it all.

The loss to Egypt was very painful for Malkia Strikers players. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

Over the years, global sport has evolved into a lucrative multi-billion-dollar industry characterised by advanced science, commercial transparency, and athlete-centred models.

However, Kenya remains anchored in the dark age defined by administrative incompetence, exploitation and utter disregard for human dignity. Sweat, sacrifice and shredded self-esteem have long been the invisible currency of Kenyan sport.

Picture this: photos of vulnerable children aged 15 years and below stranded in a foreign country and seeking refuge in corridors circulating on social media. As absurd and shocking as it may be, this was the situation that the Under-15 boys and girls teams that represented the country at the 2025 CECAFA, CAF African Schools Football Championship held in Kampala, Uganda found themselves in due to a logistical mishap.

The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) stated that the minors were eventually assisted but the damage had already been done, for no clarification could reverse the mental distress the children and their families had been subjected to.

Sports CS Salim Mvurya with Deputy President Kithure Kindiki during the official flag-off of the WRC Safari Rally Kenya 2026. [Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

The symptoms of these ills are as visible as they are humiliating; year in, year out, Kenyan athletes have suffered these injustices. It’s quite unfortunate that Kenyan sports administrators still can’t get it right a decade after the harrowing ordeal of the Kenya women’s national hockey team players who were stranded and left to fend for themselves at an airport in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

The year was 2015; the country’s women’s hockey was on a steady rise. The unstoppable Kenyan girls had trounced their continental rivals in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) World League Series One and qualified for the World League Series Two.

Despite a lack of good preparations for the global event, the team, inspired by their desire to excel and make Kenya proud, soldiered on and made do with the scarce resources. Even so, their real troubles began when they left the country for Montevideo, Uruguay. Everything went south upon their arrival at their transit airport in the Brazilian city, for they found themselves indefinitely stranded.

Distraught, hungry and helpless, they wandered in the airport and survived on candy, as it was narrated by one of the players.

“We didn’t have money to even afford basics like food and water; we survived on sweets (candy) at the airport. They were for sale, but at that time it didn’t matter to us because it was not luxury but survival. Some shop attendants were kind enough to give us the sweets without asking for money after discovering that we had been there for very long hours,” said a player who sought anonymity.

Nevertheless, for another player, the impact of that debacle was the beginning of sleepless nights for her family.

"When my family got wind of our struggles, they were troubled and decided to find solutions to get me out of the situation. My father insisted that I not proceed to Uruguay but wait for him to get funds and purchase a return ticket for me. Though I had a choice to return home, I chose not to abandon my teammates and the course and convinced my family that I was fine.”

This booking error adversely affected their performance; by the time they arrived in Montevideo, the tournament had already marched on. They were met with harsh administrative decisions such as walkovers that ended their dream of advancing to the third and final round, which was also a 2016 Rio Olympic qualifier. Long before they touched down in Uruguay, their dreams had been crushed not by opponents on the field of play but by managerial failures.

A historical audit of Kenyan sports reveals a cyclical pattern of humiliation. From football and basketball to volleyball and rugby to amputee football and Paralympics and many other disciplines, the script remains identical.

For instance, in 2016, the Kenyan track and field team to the Rio Olympics held a protest at the airport after they arrived at the airport and discovered that flight tickets had not been booked for javelin star Julius Yego, 1500m runner Elijah Manangoi and team chaperone Catherine Ndereba.

That was just the beginning of what would end in the biggest scandal in the history of Kenyan sports. And though Kenyan athletes performed well, scandals haunted the then national Olympic committee officials; official kits were stolen, and athletes were left stranded in Rio under harsh conditions. The aftermath of Rio would see the government disband the entire committee, leading to the arrest of some officials over corruption.

Fast forward to 2018, and the men’s national rugby 7s team Shujaa said enough is enough, having endured months of unpaid salaries. They staged a silent but loud protest when they masked the logo of the official sponsor during their World Rugby Paris Sevens circuit match against Fiji in front of global television.

They went on to beat Fiji 22-19 to end their 26-match winning streak. Shujaa’s courageous stand against exploitation proved costly for the players after the government cancelled the sponsorship, which was promoting Kenya’s tourism industry, instead of addressing their grievances. 

In 2019, the women’s national basketball team, the Lionesses, went on social media and released a joint statement through the then captain, Hilda Indasi, that they were stranded and in dire need and had not been paid their allowances.

The team, which was in Dakar, Senegal, on a FIBA Women’s AfroBasket assignment, had travelled without two players to complete the required 12. Nonetheless, instead of being heard, they were severely punished by their mother federation; players were threatened and forced to write mandatory apology letters. In what is believed to be a quiet national team blacklisting, some of the players have never been considered for national duty since then.

The mighty Malkia Strikers have not been spared either, for during last year’s FIVB World Championship, they decried their woes on social media while in Bangkok, Thailand.

They lamented endless promises that resulted in nothing but delayed payment of their dues. The Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) would later reveal that all their allowances had been cleared.

Interestingly, the issues of unpaid allowances resurfaced before the just-concluded CAVB Women’s African Volleyball Championship and hours before their final match against Egypt at the Kasarani Indoor Arena.

Captain Meldina Sande rubbished the claims, saying they had been paid all their allowances but their lacklustre final show left Kenyans wondering if the issue could have had a negative impact on their performance.

In spite of odds being in their favour as defending champions and thousands of fans rallying behind them, Malkia Strikers lost in straight sets to Egypt to relinquish the continental crown and miss a direct ticket to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Harambee Starlets hit headlines after staging a protest and refusing to travel to France for their 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) pre-tournament camp.

Harambee Starlets Captain Mwanalima Adam during preparations for WAFCON. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Chanting “no pay no France no pay no Wafcon”, the Starlets, led by their captain Mwanahalima Adam, protested at FKF’s Goal Project offices hours after being flagged off by the President himself at State House. Their allowances were paid, as reported by Adam, but their display at the continental championship spoke volumes about their preparedness for the title, having not played meaningful friendlies.

These are just selected examples among countless incidents of what is wrong with Kenyan sports. Just like Shujaa, who did not feel the benefits of their sponsorship trickling down to them and protested in 2018, many Kenyan athletes are not gaining from the deals signed by their respective federations.

Driven by their interests, self-seeking federation honchos sign opaque deals whose contents or even amounts involved are a deep secret between them and their so-called sponsors.

They thrive on the sweat and blood of helpless athletes who gain nothing despite gruelling efforts they put in to keep sports running. Turning the tide requires dismantling this predatory status quo, professionalising sports and ensuring total financial transparency and executive accountability.