By Mark Baber
June 4 – The worldwide focus on football corruption, and especially the nexus between sports marketing companies and corrupt football federation officials, has created an atmosphere in which Kenya Football Federation (FKF) president Sam Nyamweya’s position looks increasingly precarious.
Nyamweya is battling against German TV allegations of having personally embezzled $500,000 in FIFA funds, an increasingly disaffected sports marketing agency upon who he is dependent for finance, and clubs who are complaining about not having been paid – and that is on top of the numerous enemies he has made himself within Kenyan football.
Much to Nyamweya’s chagrin, the allegations aired on Deutsche Welle in a documentary last week have been widely reported in the Kenyan press. Jérôme J. Dufourg, a French football marketing executive who worked with FKF, claims: “I have documents from November 2011 to April and May 2013 and it’s clearly stating that Sam Nyamweya has stolen more than half a million dollars of funds coming from FIFA through the Financial Assistant Programme, bonuses from CAF assistant programmes and then from Government.”
Dufourg showed Deutsche Welle documents, including bank statements which the German broadcaster claims show “almost $200,000 in development funds came from FIFA. But the amount doesn’t show up in the association annual report. Instead, withdraws adding up to $500,000 always came after deposits, that is clear evidence of corruption.”
Although the documents were submitted to FIFA internal investigators last year, no action has been taken yet, with a similar lack of progress evident from the FIFA Ethics Committee over what a FIFA appointed expert described as Nyamweya’s attempts to get a team from his home area promoted to the Kenyan Premier League.
Nyamweya has responded to the allegations with a denial – calling them “reckless” and telling Capital Sport: “That one my brother I cannot discuss about it because it is being handled by our legal experts and its recklessness. We want media houses not to be reckless, if you are given any documentation, you must have proof.
“If you don’t have proof, you just don’t just write. Those days are over, these days if you do things that are illegal, my friend; you shall be taken to the sweepers. You do what you think is right. Don’t say so and so has robbed when it is not true,”
Nyamweya continued: “We also say as a federation, as an organisation, we are also protected by the Constitution of this country and if anybody wants to mess us, we are ready to face the law.”
Nyamweya also faces a revolt from the clubs participating in his ‘FKF Premier League’ who are complaining they have not received payments due under the sponsorship agreement with sports marketing agency MP & Silva.
MP & Silva have suspended all payments to Nyamweya’s FKF over repeated breaches of confidentiality (including leaks to the press of the letters complaining about these breaches), over the failure of Nyamweya to recruit the top Kenyan clubs to his League and over the allegations the signatures of some clubs on the sponsorship agreement were forged.
After a meeting with the FKF Premier League clubs, who have threatened to suspend their involvement in the competition if payments do not resume, Nyamweya claimed: “We have talked to the clubs and explained to them our situation. We have assured them that the grants will resume soon.”
According to Nyamweya: “We are talking to the sponsors and believe that it is just a matter of time before the grants resume.”
According to Zoo Kericho chairman Ken Ochieng, Nyamweya is due to report back to the clubs on the success of his negotiations with MP & Silva within two days.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734904043labto1734904043ofdlr1734904043owedi1734904043sni@n1734904043osloh1734904043cin.l1734904043uap1734904043