Kenya’s role as a co-host of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is under serious threat following delays in remitting the required hosting fee to the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
Sports Principal Secretary (PS) Elijah Mwangi on Thursday, March 19th, 2026 warned that failure to pay the Ksh3.9 billion ($30 million) contribution by the Monday, 30 March deadline could jeopardise the country’s place in the joint ‘East Africa Pamoja’ bid alongside Uganda and Tanzania.
Appearing before the National Assembly Committee on Sports and Culture, chaired by Webuye West MP Dan Wanyama, Mwangi revealed that Kenya is the only partner yet to honour its financial commitment, with both Uganda and Tanzania having already paid their shares.
“We have been given until March 30 to clear the payment of the hosting fees. We are aware that our ‘Pamoja’ countries of Uganda and Tanzania have paid, but Kenya is yet to pay its share of about Kshh3.9 billion,” Mwangi told MPs..
The gains that we have so far made in preparations for AFCON may be jeopardised if we are not able to raise the money by the deadline.
CAF has been very clear that we must show commitment, and one of those commitments is payment of the hosting contribution. If we fail, then our hosting will be jeopardise
In his earlier defence, Mwangi pointed to lessons from a benchmarking visit to Morocco during the last AFCON tournament, where he travelled alongside officials from the Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
“We established that for Kenya to match the standards set during the competition in Morocco, we must enhance the budget,” he said on Thursday, 19 February.
The latest concerns come just weeks after the parliamentary committee rejected a proposal by the Sports Ministry to increase its AFCON budget from Ksh3.5 billion to Ksh5 billion.
The ministry had sought to include the additional funds in a supplementary budget to help Kenya meet its obligations and maintain credibility with CAF.
