Registering a Sports Organisation in Kenya: The Sports Registrar Process

Any body that wants to operate as a national sports association, county sports association, or sports club in Kenya must register with the Sports Registrar. Registration is not a formality. It is the gateway to eligibility for public funding, official recognition by Sports Kenya, and standing to compete or affiliate internationally, and it comes with ongoing obligations that continue long after the certificate is issued. This guide sets out what the Sports Registrar Regulations, 2016 actually require, from the contents of a compliant constitution through to cancellation and dissolution.

The Registering Authority

The Sports Registrar is established under the Sports Act, 2013 and operates under the Sports Registrar Regulations, 2016 (Legal Notice No. 158 of 2016). The Registrar manages the registration, licensing and ongoing oversight of every sports organisation in Kenya, and maintains the official register that Sports Kenya, funders and international federations rely on to confirm a body’s standing. A person aggrieved by a decision of the Registrar under the Regulations has a statutory right of appeal to the Sports Tribunal, which must be exercised within thirty days of the decision (Regulation 25). That right of appeal matters in practice: it applies not only to registration refusals but to every decision the Registrar makes under the Regulations, including cancellation and the removal of office bearers discussed below.

What the Constitution Must Contain

Before an organisation can register, its constitution has to meet specific content requirements under Regulation 3. It must state the organisation’s aims and objectives, which the Regulations say must include promoting and developing sport, maintaining good standing with all governing and regulatory bodies of its sport, and coordinating technical information on training, equipment, coaching and performance analysis. It must also set out dispute resolution mechanisms consistent with the rules of the organisation’s international bodies and with the Sports Act. A requirement that is easy to overlook when drafting a constitution from a generic template: Regulation 3(c) requires the constitution to bind members to observe the anti-doping rules of the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya, their international federation, and the World Anti-Doping Agency. A constitution silent on anti-doping compliance is not one the Registrar is required to accept.

Registration Categories, the Application, and Individual Licensing

The Regulations recognise three registration categories: national sports associations, which are expected to demonstrate a genuine national footprint; county sports associations, which operate at the county level; and sports clubs, including both clubs affiliated to a national or county association and private sports clubs. Applications are made on Form A, and the supporting documentation is substantial. At a minimum, an applicant should expect to assemble a constitution meeting the Regulation 3 requirements above, short, medium and long-term strategic plans, an updated register of affiliates, clubs, officials and athletes, audited financial statements for the preceding year, compliance certificates covering VAT, KRA PIN, NSSF and NHIF (now SHIF) status, clearance certificates for the chairperson, secretary and treasurer from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission, the Kenya Revenue Authority, the Credit Reference Bureau and the Higher Education Loans Board, copies of the organisation’s logos and emblems, and identification documents for its officials. For national governing bodies specifically, Regulation 4(3)(c) requires evidence of branch offices in at least twenty four counties, though that figure may be “progressively achieved within three years” of registration rather than met in full at the application stage, unless the sport itself cannot realistically be established in several counties.

Registration of the organisation is separate from licensing of the individuals who compete or work within it. Under Part III of the Regulations, an athlete, coach, player or agent who wants to operate as a professional sports person must apply to the Registrar for a licence on Form F, providing proof of nationality, evidence of academic and professional qualifications, certification from the relevant international federation for agents and managers, and (for foreign nationals) a recommendation letter from their national sporting body, alongside the same category of compliance certificates required of organisations. A newly formed national federation and its professional playing staff are, in other words, both subject to registration or licensing requirements, and neither substitutes for the other.

Fees and Timelines

The Second Schedule to the Regulations sets a more granular fee structure than the three broad registration categories suggest, and it is easy to apply the wrong figure if you assume a standard national federation is simply “the national fee”:

The distinction that trips people up: a single-sport national federation pays the 10,000-shilling National Sports Organisation fee, not the 50,000-shilling Multi-Sport Organisation fee, which is reserved for umbrella bodies whose remit spans multiple sports. The Second Schedule also sets separate fees for licensing (100,000 shillings for a professional sports organisation, 2,000 shillings for a professional sports person), voluntary dissolution of a national sports body (1,000 shillings), annual filing of returns or a change of particulars (1,000 shillings), and arbitration or mediation panels (90,000 shillings for a one-member panel, 150,000 shillings for a three-member panel). Once a complete application is filed, the Registrar has ninety days from the date of receipt to either issue a certificate of registration on Form B or reject the application (Regulation 4(6)).

Ongoing Obligations and the Removal of Office Bearers

Registration is the start of an ongoing compliance relationship, not the end of one. A newly registered body must hold elections within ninety days of registration and notify the Registrar of the resulting change of particulars within thirty days (Regulation 6). On an annual basis, Regulation 24 requires every registered organisation to provide the Registrar with updated details of its current office bearers, audited financial statements, minutes of its most recent annual or bi-annual general meetings, and proof of valid accident and health insurance cover for its sports persons and officials.

The Registrar also has power to remove an individual office bearer on complaint, under Regulation 10. A person, body or sports organisation may apply on Form M for the removal of an office bearer on grounds that include non-compliance with Chapter Six of the Constitution of Kenya (the leadership and integrity chapter), the office holder’s continued tenure contradicting the organisation’s constitution or the Act, incapacity, a criminal conviction resulting in a custodial sentence, breach of the terms of office, or bankruptcy. Where an office bearer is removed on these grounds, the organisation must replace them within ninety days.

Cancellation and Dissolution

Where the Registrar cancels a certificate of registration under section 51 of the Sports Act, Regulation 7 sets out a structured process rather than a summary one: the Registrar first notifies the organisation of the intended cancellation on Form D, the organisation has fourteen days to appear before the Registrar and be heard, and the Registrar then either revokes the intended cancellation in writing or, within a further fourteen days, issues a final cancellation notice on Form E. Once a cancellation takes effect, the organisation’s name becomes available for use by any other applicant, which is itself a practical reason not to let a compliance failure drift into cancellation territory.

Voluntary dissolution is a separate route for a body that wants to wind down on its own terms. Under Regulation 8, the decision to dissolve must be taken by the organisation’s supreme decision-making organ at its annual general meeting, the Registrar must be notified on Form L at least three months before the planned dissolution, and the organisation must respect the rights of its creditors before distributing any remaining assets. A sports organisation may also be wound up through insolvency proceedings, in which case the ordinary company winding-up rules apply with necessary modifications. Once dissolution is complete, the Registrar removes the organisation’s name from the register.