Kenya Football .:. Story

Kenyan fans want FKL deregistered - kenyafootball.com image

KENYA football stakeholders have vowed to paralyse sports activities organised by Football Kenya Limited (FKL) unless Kenya Football Federation (KFF) led by Sam Nyamweya is recognised.

During a well attended sports consultative meeting that involved stakeholders drawn from various disciplines, members attributed the current sports mess bedeviling football due to FKL incompetence to run the game.

The Chairman of the Kenya Football Fans Association (Kefofa) Joash Amukayia said Kenyans are fed up with FKL and appealed to the Government to order for fresh elections from the grassroots.

Consequently, FKL officials who had been invited for the consultative meeting snubbed the meeting. However, the entire KFF top brass led by Nyamweya, Secretary General Omondi Aduda attended the meeting as observers.

FKL Chairman Mohamed Hatimy (pictured - right) or any of the directors were unable to be reached over their phones.

Members who attended the meeting appealed to Nyamweya to take charge of football since he was elected by KFF branches who are the football stakeholders. He said the formation of FKL was a clear ambush by three musketeers who are acting unliterary.

Amukayia disclosed that he has received over 500 000 signatures from stakeholders who want the government to de-register FKL and give KFF mandate to run football.

The group is expected to petition their claim and forward the list of signatories to the Prime Minister Raila Odinga before faxing to the World Governing soccer Body-Fifa.

In a press statement, Kefofa fans said lack of foresight in the preparation and management of the National team Harambee Stars and the embarrassing recruitment and chaotic salary payment of Head coach Antoine Hey were part of the current mess championed by FKL.

“After wide consultations with majority stake holders, we have raised thousands of signatures of soccer participants and lovers from across the country to firmly confront the fraud that is Football Kenya Limited (FKL)”. The statement said in part.

“Our position, the statement added, is that because the sport is communal and belongs to all Kenyans, any organization mandated to run it must be crafted constitutionally and through an open democratic, consultative process. Unfortunately the formation of FKL was a clear ambush by three musketeers acting unliterary.'

“Consequently, football management has become a fiasco and a total embarrassment to the entire country. From the onset, FKL decisions and actions have been erratic, lopsided and fraudulent. The statement said.

“This FKL officials are mere businessmen. They are not football administrators. They have never come out in the open to tell Kenyans how much was raised during Harambee Stars match against Mozambique played almost two months ago. They have slaughtered Sammy Obingo for no reason. Let them be informed we are going to paralyze football activities until KFF is given the mandate to run football”” said a bitter Amukayia amid thunderous cheers from the packed hall.

Kefofa noted with dismay that the mishandling and near abortion of the national youth soccer development programmes despite knowing too well that the youth are the bedrock of talent and football at large. In this we have witnessed the tribalisation of selection of the coaching staff where all of them hail from the FKL-chairman' s Mombasa backyard.

They cited Twahir Muhiddin, Yussuf Chippo, Rajab Babu, Rishadi Shedu,Rizak Siwa and Swaleh Tuwa.” We are wondering is it only Mombasa that produces coaches and soccer tacticians in this country? Consequently the selections of the junior national teams like 'the 'U-17, U-20 and U-21 has become shoddy and skewed, hence the poor results.

Some of the grievances Kefofa wants to petition to the Government through a signed memorandum include-

• The embarrassing recruitment and chaotic salary payment for H. Stars coach Antoine Hey (pictured - left) whom we have established is unqualified and a non-entity in football circles in his home country, Germany.

• The shoddy and scandalous handling of national junior teams which in the latest shame saw the Under - 20 side register embarrassing results in an international invitational tournament in Egypt where they soaked in 22 goals in only three matches.

• Choice of only Arabic and non football powerhouse countries in the East for international friendlies for Harambee Stars while preparing for serious World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations fixtures is both demeaning and scandalous. Already there are indications that these friendly matches are fraudulent commercial ventures which FKL officials are using to line their pockets at the expense of our national team.

• The recent unilateral and acrimonious sacking of FKL CEO Sammy Obingo confirms that the company is purely a private business where due process and consultation are never part of the operational rules. Besides, his stand in replacement which is headed for confirmation to office, a Mr. Mohammed Thabiti, is further confirmation that an ethnic clique led by FKL Chairman Mohammed Hatimy is hell bent on putting Kenya FIFA under the control of an ethnic minority from Mombasa to the exclusion of all other Kenyans.

• Harambee Stars' poor run in the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations campaign which began as a sweet dream to South Africa has degenerated into a national nightmare.

• The often decried lack of transparency in management of funds for running and development of the sport in the country.

The PM and FIFA who have been misled must immediately untie the evil knot that protects this FKL fraud so that the process of re-engineering football management in Kenya can begin and be fast tracked to comply with both FIFA laws and stakeholders demands.

Take note that if our plea is not heeded urgently, our members will have no option but to resort to mass action and paralyze all FKL organized matches and meetings countrywide.

We would rather have football than auction our players and stadiums to a cartel whose legitimacy and accountability are questionable.