By Mark Baber
September 30 – With Football Kenya Federation elections looming, football in Kenya continues to be overshadowed by the claims of intrigue, corruption and manipulation. Notwithstanding the commercial and administrative mess and infighting he has created within Kenyan football, President Sam Nyamweya (pictured) hangs on and remains in the race for another four year term, whilst FIFA’s role, especially the apparent lack of action of its Ethics Committee, appears increasingly indefensible.
Given his recent record, it comes as no surprise that Nyamweya is accused by rival candidates for the top job of trying to manipulate the upcoming elections and of misleading FIFA on resolutions adopted at the August 28 Annual General Meeting. The FKF denies attempts to change the composition of the electorate and “align” branches with counties to increase the size of the electorate had any connection at all with trying to give Nyamweya an advantage in the upcoming poll.
Selective leaking of correspondence between FIFA and the FKF indicates that FIFA recently intervened to keep the status quo as far as the electorate is concerned, but with a lack of trust between different factions, following Nyamweya’s attempt to have the leading lights of the Kenyan Premier League imprisoned, it is unsurprising that Nick Mwendwa, one of the presidential candidates, has called for the whole of the correspondence between the national body and FIFA, that led to the directive to stick to the rules of the 2011 polls, be made public.
Following the failure of Nyamweya’s attempt to replace the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) with the ‘FKF Premier League’, which was effectively funded by sports rights agency MP & Silva who were under the impression they would be sponsoring Kenya’s top league, the FKF president has now fallen out with his previous backers, claiming that the contract with them has been “terminated” whilst legal letters from the Portugal-based international sports agency claim the contract is still “valid.”
Due to this commercial mess, FKF teams (and referees) have been unpaid and potentially unable to fulfil their fixtures. A new agreement between the FKF and KPL, negotiated and agreed, against the odds, between the two sides remains unexecuted as it requires the signature of FKF Secretary General/CEO Michael Esakwa who failed to attend the signing and who has subsequently refused to append his signature to the document.
But the major question many observers of Kenyan football are asking is why Nyamweya’s presidency and candidacy for another term has been allowed to continue, and how much damage the world body is going to allow to be done to Kenyan football before the FIFA Ethics Committee finally delivers its verdict on the Shabana club scandal.
Shabana, the club of which Sam Nyamweya is the patron, was “awarded” 14 dubious boardroom points during the last two months of 2014 in what has been described as a blatant case of “post-match fixing,” allowing the President’s local club to “qualify” for promotion to the Kenyan Premier League.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734909165labto1734909165ofdlr1734909165owedi1734909165sni@r1734909165ebab.1734909165kram1734909165