Cabinet Secretary for Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports, Salim Mvurya, on Tuesday, 3 June, reaffirmed East Africa’s commitment to staging the upcoming 2024 African Nations Championships (CHAN) scheduled for Saturday, 2 to Saturday, 30 August.Mvurya, who has been vocal about the region’s preparedness, was speaking in a Confederation of African Football (CAF)/CHAN Inter-Ministerial meeting in Nairobi, which brought together all three sports ministers from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – the joint hosts of the tournament.Follow our WhatsApp channel for more newsAmong the key issues addressed in the impromptu meeting were measures to ensure “seamless operations” throughout the tournament, including the fronting up of a “Pamoja Visa”, which will allow fans, supporters and teams to easily access the three host countries.4 foreign-based players included in Benni McCarthy’s final Harambee Stars squad to Morocco“We will discuss with other ministries in charge of immigration to ensure that we have seamless visa entry requirements, but also we are discussing a pamoja visa, which will be very critical for the tournament.We have made significant strides and are now focused on finalising key elements, including cross-border facilitation, budgetary allocations, and tax exemptions to ensure a smooth and successful tournament,” reads part of a statement by Mvurya on his Facebook page.Mvurya said in the meeting that also brought together key members of the CHAN Local Organising Committee (LOC) and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Hussein Mohammed.“The other area we were discussing was looking at the issue of how equipment will arrive in the country. Just like you in the media, we will have other people who will come with equipment in the three countries, and that will require either tax exemption or other related issues,” the CS added.Sports CS responds to reports of Kenya being unprepared to host CHANMvurya also mentioned that the three countries, plus CAF’s Technical team, will be working together to look at the line items of the tournament’s finance and budget, estimated to be around 39 million dollars (Ksh5,040,458,709).“The three countries, together with CAF, will be convening on the 10th next week (Tuesday) to work on the area of financing and budget management and report to us,” he said.##NAJAVA_MECA_8963752##Uganda’s Minister of State for Sports, Peter Ogwang, and Tanzania’s Minister Prof John Kabudi, joined Mvurya in reaffirming the region’s commitment to host the tournament, with the former saying that this year’s edition will be “the best competition in the history of CHAN in Africa.”CAF Secretary General Veron Mosengo-Omba, on the other hand, said his President Patrice Motsepe is “committed to accompany the Pamoja countries to deliver a very good CHAN.”
