While some athletes receive their performance bonuses when they get off the plane, others wait years before receiving their funds. A form of inequality that only the National Sports Development Fund (Fnds) could resolve. This fund is precisely part of the programmatic offer of the “Diomaye President” Coalition.
By Hyacinthe DIANDY – Following our “Decryption”, in our edition yesterday, on the problems linked to late payments of performance bonuses to athletes, especially at the level of individual sports, we received many reactions confirming such a situation, far from being motivating.
In fact since 2021, after the payment of arrears from 2007 by former minister Matar Ba, the medalists have been chasing their bonuses. The exit of Louis François Mendy has brought this eternal debate on the care of our athletes up to date.
Obviously, we understand the wrath of these deserving athletes who have difficulty digesting the fact that for equal performance, some receive their bonuses as soon as they get off the plane while others wait years before receiving their funds. Fortunately, the Cnoss Olympic Scholarship is there to relieve some.
As an argument, on the supervisory side, this delay is explained by a lack of foresight in the budgetary arbitration of the federations, especially those which manage individual sports (judo, karate, athletics, swimming, etc.), with the absence of certain aspects when establishing the technical sheet. Unlike football and basketball which have already resolved this problem at their level. But the observation is there: athletes are struggling to receive their bonuses.
While waiting to find a (provisional) mechanism for a rapid settlement of bonuses, everyone agrees that only a fund or foundation can solve the problem. And on this chapter, the National Sports Development Fund (Fnds), long announced and which is the wish of all, can solve the problem. Precisely, this fund is part of the programmatic offer of the Coalition “Diomaye President”, where we can read: “A National Sports Development Fund will be created. This fund will be funded by television rights taxes, lotteries, sponsorships, casinos, etc., in order to supplement the budgetary limits of the State and support the development of sport.” According to Khady Diène Gaye, “it is to meet the expectations of the various sports federations whose lack of funding hinders their development and national and international performances.”
And this Fnds obviously involves the adoption of the new Sports Code which, rightly, will be one of the major expectations in the battery of measures announced by the new Minister in charge of Sport.
According to Ms. Khady Diène Gaye, the Sports Code should give the sector the tools to improve the legal framework for Senegalese sport and provide it with the means to finance its development. Moreover, the adoption of the Sports Code constitutes one of the major points among the 17 measures listed during the installation of the new minister.
The Fnds, which should be housed in an account, will allow the ministry to better manage international competitions. This fund will above all make it easier to meet the needs linked to international competitions and also put an end to delays linked to the payment of athletes’ bonuses.
[email protected]
