Rwf9bn budget deficit forces MINISPORTS to suspend sports development projects

A list of projects lined up for sports development in Rwanda has been put on hold and is pending financing as the Ministry of Sports faces a budget deficit of over Rwf9 billion. The budget allocated in different government institutions significantly reduced ahead of the 2021/2022 fiscal year as the country continues to battle the covid-19 financial crisis while looking for resources for different development initiatives. When the Ministry of Sports proposed a budget worth Rwf12 billion to the Ministry of Finance to use in the 2021/2022 fiscal year, only Rwf3.2 billion was availed while the government continues to look for further financing alternatives. For instance, while presenting the budget for the 2021/2022 on Tuesday, May 18, Minister Aurore Mimosa Munyangaju said that the Ministry needed Rwf 1.8 billion to sustain different sports development activities lined up to unearth and nurture new talents from different sports disciplines. Under the project, Munyangaju said the Ministry was expecting to deploy 60 coaches at 60 centers of excellence across the country so they can help in talent detection among students in different schools with a target to produce at least 1500 young athletes from different disciplines. However, the ministry struggled to get the budget for the project but due to lack of finances, it was put on hold until the budget is available. To avoid keeping the project shelved given its importance to the national sports development agenda, the Ministry sought external funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) which committed to provide Rwf1 billion to ensure that the implementation takes shape. “After discussions we had with the Ministry of Finance on why some sports activities were not able to get funding due to the current situation caused by covid-19 which affected the national economy, we were forced to put some sports activities on hold. And, with the current budget, it will be a big challenge to put in action all sports activities that need funding,” Munyangaju said. Besides the project, Munyangaju revealed that a number of other sports activities need financing and called for more discussions among members of parliament and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning to look for alternatives to finance both the sports development policy and school sports policy in order to ensure that sports development activities are sustained as a potential solution to bring Rwanda’s sports performance on the international scene back on track. However, Emmanuel Munyandinda, an official from the Office of the Prime Minister said both Sports and Education Ministries should be working together and take advantage of Physical Education teachers to help them in the talent detection of young athletes until the budget is available. “The two Ministries should put in efforts in training physical education teachers to help in detecting talented players. I think, with the little budget available, to train these teachers,” Munyandinda said. Omar Munyaneza, the Chairperson of the Committee on National Budget and Patrimony said they will continue to discuss how the sports sector financing can be sustained in order to successfully hit the national targets for sports.