Kenya: Bottom Up in Action - Government Plan to Transform Golf From Elitist to Hustler's Sport

By Omondi Onyatta

Nairobi — The government plans to build public golf courses around the country as well as establish academies in schools as part of a larger effort to change the image of the sport from an elitist to a people-centric one.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba said the programme is part of the government's implementation of the bottom up policy, noting that it will help transform Kenya into one of the powerhouses of the sport in the world.

"We are also sending a strong message that golf is not an elitist sport that is painted to be. We are making golf a people sport...a sport that everyone can be a part of. And one of the things the ministry will be rolling out under the Talanta Hela programme is to provide public golf courses and golf academy within the schooling ecosystem," Namwamba said.

The CS called on the county governments to work with his ministry in this endeavour to ensure more people have access to the sport.

"So, those of you who have spaces within your counties, we are calling on you to work together with us on this. You know that Kenya is a significant golfing country...we already host two significant global golf tournaments in this country (Magical Kenya Open and Magical Kenya Ladies Open)," he said.

Namwamba was speaking on Monday at the Sanaa Centre when he received the national junior golfers' team who finished third at the recent All Africa Junior Golf Championships in Uganda.

The girls' team comprising Belinda Wanjiru, Chanelle Wangari and Audrey Gachora finished third as the boys' team of Lee Kimathi, Kris Shah, Junaid Manji and Mikael Kihara finished sixth in their competition.

The CS congratulated the girls for an exceptional showing in Uganda and said their success is evidence of what more the country's young talents can achieve with the right investment.

"I was following very keenly the progress of that competition. I could see that it was very competitive...This government has made it very clear that we are serious about supporting development of sports bottom up. Bottom up in the sense that we want to invest in young talents...developing young talents is the very definition of working from the bottom up," he said.

Speaking at the same event, Junior Golf Foundation (JGF) president Regina Gachora said they are ready to work with the ministry to implement the bottom up model in golf by introducing the sport in as many schools as possible.

"The girls finished third for the first time ever. One of the promises we made was to return the national flag that was given to us...and to also present the trophy that we won in Uganda. Here at JGF, we are working to grow the game of golf just like the bottom up model and we look forwarding to working with you to grow the game of golf," she said.

This article originally appeared on Capital FM.