The government is streamlining the sports sector to make it more profitable to players and athletes who depend on it as their main source of income.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has assured sportspeople of the government’s interest in making sports one of the highest paying sectors in the country.
The DP said the focus on academics alone is a thing of the past, noting the change in approach to learning through the new studying curriculum which will pay more attention to harnessing talent and nurturing it from formative years to senior levels.
“We have concentrated much on academics and condemned those who are not good in it yet they are excellent in sports and creative industry.
It is wrong to reduce people’s abilities to how they perform in only one area.
In the developed world, sportspeople and artists are among the wealthiest, the most famous and influential people in their countries,” he said.
The Deputy President spoke on Thursday when he held consultative talks with sports men and women from Embu, Meru and Tharaka Nithi at home in Irunduni, Tharaka Nithi County.
The DP said the era when sports was held in low regard is gone, pointing to how lucrative the sports industry is internationally.
“Footballers, tennis players and other professional players make billions every week.
Most jobs can’t match what they earn,” he said.
To make the local sector rise to similar levels, Prof. Kindiki enumerated numerous approaches the administration is exploring including infrastructure development, improving training facilities and identifying and nurturing talent early on.
