100 days in office: FKF yet to walk the talk

Nick Mwendwa ascended to the leadership of Football Kenya Federation under the slogan of change 100 days ago on Thursday to much fanfare. But has there been any noticeable difference in the way his regime is running the game and his predecessors, many maligned and discredited?

February 20 marked the unusual peaceful transition of football “power” from the unpopular Sam Nyamweya regime to the youthful Mwendwa and his fresh team.

Save for a few regimes, the management of football in Kenya down the years has always been under questionable personalities who ascended to the top owing to their deep pockets and political affiliations rather than their vision and game plan of developing the sport.

The rot accumulated as a result of this drab leadership, was what the Mwendwa group, which vigorously campaigned across the country under the theme “Team Change” was tasked to clean up.

Mwendwa won overwhelmingly and it was expected he would have the tyranny of numbers to carry through his vision.

So what has FKF achieved these 100 days?

“They are still learning through the ropes of management,” Kenya Premier League CEO Jack Oguda said on Saturday.

He added: “And I’m happy to note that they have given us an ear. Through their partnership for instance, I expect we will come up with programmes to improve the standard of officiating.”

In general, the early signs are that Mwendwa and his lieutenants have improved on some aspects of management, if comparison are to be made with the last two regimes of Nyamweya and before that Mohammed Hatimy.

The FKF office has dithered on other aspects, and failed on some fronts.

A general look at the current FKF leadership pyramid suggests the hand picked CEO Robert Muthomi is Mwendwa’s main right hand man.

Deputy president Doris Petra  - a survivor from Nyamweya’s regime - and National Executive Committee (NEC) member for Nairobi Chris Amimo can be considered part of Mwendwa’s kitchen cabinet.

For starters, it is impressive to note that Mwendwa’s FKF has fast tracked plans to relocate from Nyayo Stadium to Kandanda House, in Kasarani.

The office has adopted a more professional outlook by hiring qualified staff including Barry Otieno as the Communications Manager alongside Phoebe Amuyunzu as head of competitions.

The professionalism bug has also swept through the national football teams preparations for international assignments.

For once in a long while, Harambee Stars camped in an impressive environment, trained without side shows and glitches, and travelled to-and-fro various cities across Africa with relative ease. This was an exception rather than the norm with previous federation offices.

QUALIFIED FOR AFCON

More impressively, Mwendwa’s regime has organised national youth sides to train and feature international unlike in the past. As a matter of fact, the Kenya women team last month qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time ever under coach David Ouma.

“I am happy we are now discussing football issues and not for example a lack of training ground, delay in payment of allowances to players, or lack of morale in camp,” Mwendwa said during a recent interview.

Mwendwa should also be commended for cultivating cordial relations with the government.

The Ministry of Sports has funded national teams preparations since Mwendwa took over to the tune of tens of millions of shillings.

Through concerted pushing by the federation, Fifa have resumed financial assistant to Kenya. FKF will receive close to Sh150 million from the world football governing body over the next year.
However, the FKF report form has not been all ticks.

There have been some questionable events and decisions within the current FKF, which have raised the public’s eyebrows.

For instance, the decision by Mwendwa to go all out in a fight to force the Kenyan Premier League to increase the number of participating teams in the top tier competition from 16 to 18.

This he started barely a week into assuming office.

SUED FKF

This was despite the fact, the Kenyan Premier League season had already commenced. Also, it eventually turned out that a second tier side associated with the FKF boss, Kariobangi Sharks, was in line to get promoted if that proposal was approved.

Another Move by Mwendwa to sack coach Bobby Williamson weeks after assuming office without following due procedure, is a decision that could ultimately prove to be an expensive one.

Williamson, 54, has since sued the federation seeking Sh100 million for unlawful dismissal and unpaid salary arrears.

What’s more, Williamson’s replacement - the spectacularly inexperienced Stanley Okumbi  - is yet to prove to the court of public opinion that he is the man for the job after losing all his matches.

In fact, Okumbi’s decision making has been, to say the least, suspicious.

For example, he made the poor decision to hand Patillah Omotto a starting role during the high stakes 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Bissau although the 24-year-old had not played competitively for six months.

FKF have also been on the spot for failing to understand tournament rules. This led to the disqualification of the Kenya Under-20 football team from the African Nations qualifiers after they were found guilty of “fielding over age players”.

All this after the Government had injected Sh7 million to prepare the side and fly them to Khartoum for a game against Sudan.

Even President Uhuru Kenyatta was visibly annoyed: “This kind of issue is simply unacceptable for a federation of its calibre, and let us not sugar coat it – it is cheating. It is breaking the rules. And if the federation doesn’t not know the rules, then that is carelessness. It is regrettable that the actions of the federation led to the disqualification of our team from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.”

Looking ahead, FKF officials will require all the support from Kenyans and stakeholders to improve the standards of the game.

Plans are underway according the federation to set up a youth and women league.

Mwendwa has been keen to let everyone know that his main target is to qualify for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.

All has been said; will it be done?

SUCCESSES

Relocating FKF Secretariat to Kasarani

Harambee Starlets qualification for 2016 Africa Cup of Nations

Junior Kenya teams’ participation in international tournament

Better professional organisation of Kenya’s Harambee Stars

Return to Fifa’s good books.

FAILURES

Continuing feud with Kenyan Premier League of number of teams to play in the top national league (FKF want number increased from 16 to 18)

Kenya Under-20 disqualification form Afcon qualifiers over age cheating

Dismal performance of Harambee Stars. They yet again failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations

Controversial dismissal of Bobby Williamson as Kenya coach