Kenya’s preparations to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with Uganda and Tanzania face heightened scrutiny as the country has yet to remit the mandatory KSh 3.5 billion hosting fee, while its co-hosts have already fulfilled their obligations.
- •The unpaid fee represents nearly half of the Sports Ministry recurrent budget and roughly 14% of its total 2026/27 allocation of KSh 25.49 billion.
- •The Sports Ministry had proposed increasing the AFCON budget from KSh 3.5 billion to KSh 5 billion to meet standards observed at the 2025 tournament in Morocco.
- •The National Assembly Committee on Sports and Culture rejected the request, citing the shared hosting arrangement should reduce the fiscal burden.
“In fact, you should be cutting down your budget because the championship is being hosted by three states. Your push for an enhanced allocation should not be based on a country that single-handedly hosted AFCON,” said Webuye West MP, Dan Wanyama.
Sports Principal Secretary Elijah Mwangi defended the request for additional funding, noting that he led a delegation of officials from Football Kenya on a benchmarking visit to the 2025 AFCON in Morocco. According to Mwangi, the visit revealed that Kenya would need a higher budget to meet the standards set during the tournament.
With Uganda and Tanzania having met their financial obligations, Kenya faces pressure to reconcile its international commitments with domestic budget realities, ensure infrastructure readiness, and maintain its standing with CAF ahead of the continent’s largest football event.
A few weeks ago, reports in South African media stated that the tournament will be delayed due to infrastructural unpreparedness by the co-hosting states. Nicholas Musonye, chair of Kenya’s local organizing committee, told AFP that postponing the tournament to 2028 could ease pressure on the country, which will hold a general election in August 2027.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has affirmed that the tournament will proceed in June and July 2027 as planned. He described reports of delays or relocation as unfounded and confirmed ongoing inspections of facilities across the three host nations to ensure readiness.
“The Afcon next year in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda is going to be enormously successful. I am enormously confident. We have to believe in ourselves as Africans and believe in our people. The quality of people we have who lead African football are world class,” Motsepe said.
The fiscal concerns by the ministry of sports calcify doubts that were raised over a month ago by Ivorian sports journalist Mamadou Gaye, who highlighted that travel between Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania could take up to two days by car due to road and transport limitations.
While he clarified that his remarks were intended to encourage preparation rather than criticize, the observations echo historical instances where hosts faced consequences for inadequate readiness including Kenya’s 1996 withdrawal.
