President William Ruto bumps fists with Harambee Stars captain Aboud Omar when the Head of State hosted the national team for breakfast at Pullman Hotel in Nairobi on August 2, 2025.
President William Ruto’s promise of huge cash awards to the Harambee Stars for winning matches at the 2024 African Nations Championship (Chan) is the talk of the continent but Kenya’s fifth president is not the first African big man to drive such conversation.
Ruto has promised tournament debutants Harambee Stars squad slightly over Sh600 million if they go all the way to win 2024 Chan with a 100 per cent record.
He promised each person in Harambee Stars’ 42-member squad Sh1million for every match won and Sh500,000 for every draw secured.
In addition, reaching the quarter-finals will earn the squad a Sh60million, with an additional Sh70million for progressing to the semi-finals, and sh90million for making the final. Lifting the title will see the team rewarded with Sh100million.
Tanzania President Samia Suluhu has promised Taifa Stars TSh1 billion (Sh51 million) if they win the championship while Uganda President Yoweri Museveni has pledged USh1.2 billion (Sh44 million) for every match the Uganda Cranes win.
Harambee Stars players stand to earn a tidy individual amount of Sh15million each, a sum that rivals what Cote d’Ivoire players received from their government for winning 2023 Afcon on home soil. Each member of The Elephants’ squad was rewarded with $87 000 (Sh11.2 million) and a house of equivalent value. The Ivorian players were also accorded national honours.
So far, the Harambee Stars squad has secured Sh42 million from their promised pot after opening Chan 2024 with a 1-0 over two-time champions DR Congo at Kasarani on Sunday.
Still, Harambee Stars players seem to have been taking notes on how other leaders in the continent have been rewarding their sportspeople for putting their country on the map.
President William Ruto cheers the Kenyan national team during the 2024 African Nations Championship Group 'A' match against the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the Moi International Sports Center, Kasarani in Nairobi on August 3, 2025.
When Ruto met the Harambee Stars squad in their dressing room following their Sunday victory, Bandari goalkeeper Faruk Shikhalo stretched a joke that marked his first encounter with the President to request him to consider allocating some houses under the Affordable Housing Project to members of the Harambee Stars squad.
There is a long list of African presidents who have allocated land and houses to national team football players for performing well in tournaments.
In 1982, former President Daniel arap Moi allocated land to Harambee Stars after they defeated Uganda on penalties to lift that year’s Cecafa Cup. However, the squad was shortchanged and never got their piece of land.
Punishing poor performance
The Nigerian government – who have a long history of rewarding members of the country’s national football teams with cash, land, houses, and national honours for triumphing at major tournaments – did honour a promise the nation’s former President, the Late Sani Abacha, made to the Super Eagles squad that won 1994 Afcon.
Abacha had promised the squad’s houses but the pledge was only met this year, under President Bola Tinubu.
By the time of honouring that promise, three members – captain Stephen Keshi, Rashid Yekini, and Thompson Oliha – of that victorious squad had already died.
At the other extreme, some African leaders have made news for punishing poor performance by their national football teams.
President of DR Congo from 1971 to 1997 Mobutu Sese Seko of DR Congo, tops that list. Mobutu was as ruthless at punishing poor performances as he was generous at rewarding impressive results.
In 1974, he rewarded members of Zaire’s national football team with cash, cars, houses, and parcels of land after they won Afcon 1974 and qualified for the 1974 Fifa World Cup, becoming the first sub-Saharan country to do so.
When the team lost their three group matches at Germany 1974 with a combined score of 14-0, Mobutu shunned the team and withdrew his financial and political support.
Cote d’Ivoire players were detained in a military barrack for three days on the orders of the country’s military leader General Robert Guei after they suffered early elimination at 2000 Afcon .
During their detention, the players, who were earning good salaries at European clubs, were recorded on Ivorian TV doing marches and sitting down for lectures on discipline.
Later, the team was presented to General Guei who scolded them for underperforming and threatened them with military service if they played badly again.
