Dictatorial federation ruining game of football
What you need to know:
- Football Kenya Federation relies upon the objectives in their constitution to make such silly pronouncements.
- In this section, they neglect the first three verbs which are to develop, promote and to encourage.
During the Moi days of sycophancy, there was the Kanu disciplinary committee. Some of the members of the “disciplinary” outfit even rose high to be just a heart beat away from the presidency. But why bother with politics in the sports pages?
The only reason we recall those people is because they suspended and expelled even people who did not belong to the party.
Expelling a non-member from membership is the lowest one can go.
Right now we are still harping upon the issue of Football Kenya Federation banning for six years all those who take part in “unsanctioned” leagues or football tournaments in this country.
We must note that even after the “ban”, the grassroots tournament still goes on with the exception of two teams that “pulled out” for fear of FKF wrath. Those two teams were, anyway, at the bottom of the league and were going nowhere literally.
The despotic FKF leadership cherry pick the FKF constitution and twists it to fool Kenyans. They specifically rely upon the objectives in their constitution to make such silly pronouncements. Their most favourite can be easily seen in the revised constitution especially clause “L” in article two which states: “To develop, promote, encourage, control, regulate and generally assist in every way the game of football in all spheres in Kenya according to the Laws of the Game as authorised by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and the Fifa Statutes.”
In this section, they neglect the first three verbs which are to develop, promote and to encourage. They focus their rheumy eyes upon the ones they find most congenial to their petty interests: to control and regulate. Those two verbs give Mr Soprano too much power until he forgets the whole clause and begins barking in the most despicable fashion.
DANCING HAPPILY
Clause “k” in the same article keeps them dancing happily in their dim lit offices. It reads: “To approve inter-Branch tournaments, international and any other matches and organised tours by members, individuals or clubs in Kenya. No football tournaments or other football activity shall be organized by anybody in Kenya without the express written authority of the Federation.”
The clause is obviously unenforceable and the last part saying: “No football tournaments or other football activity shall be organised by anybody in Kenya without express written authority of the federation” smacks of arrogance.
It is a stupid insertion that goes against the grain of the Kenyan constitution which is the supreme law of the land. There were times Members of Parliament under the name Bunge FC would play matches. Even though the politicos playing football are not members of FKF they can still be banned or penalised by FKF, just like the Kanu disciplinary committee used to do!
There is no Kenyan legislation that gives FKF control over all football in Kenya thus the federation can only intimidate with needless bans.
Is banning of grassroots tournaments the way “to improve the game of football” in Kenya?
Since there is no legislation that gives FKF the mandate to control all football, where does it get the authority to ban the same? In the FIFA and FKF statutes, “football” is specifically “Association Football” and “Association Football” is only the game controlled/organized by Fifa/FKF.
FKF has new people in it but the mindset has not changed a whit from the senility that plagued us before the elections. Unjust laws must be disobeyed. We hereby call on all who love football in this country to disobey the FKF on this issue. Shame on them!
