Referees pay dispute paralyses Rift Valley school games
Sports
By
George Sayagie
| Jul 08, 2026
Referees and match officials at the ongoing Rift Valley Region Secondary Schools Term Two Games have gone on strike over a pay dispute.
The strike has temporarily halted competition across all disciplines, bringing it to a complete standstill.
Not a single whistle blew from early Wednesday morning, as football, volleyball, basketball 3X3, rugby sevens, and netball fixtures across various venues in Narok County failed to start.
The officials unanimously stopped working, demanding better allowances before returning to duty.
The aggrieved referees and umpires accused tournament organisers of reducing their agreed six-day facilitation from Sh30,000 to Sh15,000, calling this decision unfair after they had travelled from the region's 14 counties to officiate the week-long championships.
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The unprecedented boycott forced Rift Valley education and games officials into an emergency crisis meeting with the striking officials at the Maasai Girls High School library in a desperate attempt to save the championships from complete paralysis.
However, by the time this story was filed at 12:30pm the meeting was still ongoing, and no agreement had been reached, meaning all scheduled matches across every discipline remained suspended.
"We are yet to agree, and we are not going back to the fields until our terms are improved. We have heard they are proposing to pay us Sh4,000 per day, but we are waiting to hear their final position," said one umpire, who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation in his teaching career.
The officials insisted they would resume their duties only once a satisfactory agreement on their allowances had been reached, throwing the tournament schedule into uncertainty and raising fears that the delays could affect teams' preparations for the national secondary school championships.
Athletes, coaches, and fans were left waiting at various venues throughout the morning as organisers hurried to resolve the impasse and restart the competition.
The Rift Valley regional championships have attracted top secondary school teams from all 14 counties, with winners expected to qualify for the national games later this year.
Efforts to obtain an official comment from Rift Valley Secondary Schools Sports Association officials on the dispute were unsuccessful, as the crisis meeting continued behind closed doors at the time of publication.