Unpaid salaries leave Kenya’s rugby stars fundraising to represent the country
The Kenya rugby team is now focusing on raising money so they can travel to represent the country in the Dubai 7s series on December 2-3 and the HSBC Cape Town Sevens, which begins on December 9, 2022.
The team has not received payment for three months, according to player Willy Ambaka.
“As some of you may have heard we are now going on our third month without pay. Our lives and those of our loved ones have been greatly strained, even in our persistent effort to give you the desired outcomes on the pitch,” Ambaka tweeted.
‘Our desperate situation has now forced us to turn to you, our global community to help us in raising funds. The money raised will be split among the boys to help settle some of our pending bills – we need your assistance,” he added.
Ambaka stated that although the team is still training hard for the upcoming competitions, they have been forced to dig through their savings and the efforts of a few local and international well-wishers to pay their bills.
To help them meet their demands, the team has created an MPesa Paybill number 891300, Account Number 60365 and an MChanga link.
Kenya Rugby Union has already named a 13-man team for the two series tournaments, but unless the government steps in, their chances of representing the nation may be in tatters.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, who has since raised KES 100,000 for the team, said he brought up the issue in the Senate, and the pertinent committee took it up last week.
“Help is on the way, hang in there,” he said.