Musonye gives tourney clean bill of health

Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye has backed Kenya to stage a better edition of the Senior Challenge Cup than in 2013 when the country hosted the same tournament.

Incidentally, Kenya won the championship that tear.

Harambee Stars will be competing against eight other countries namely Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Libya, South Sudan and Ethiopia for the regional football crown.

The government, Football Kenya Federation and Cecafa seem all too keen to put aside the embarrassment of being stripped of the hosting rights of next year’s African Nations Championship (Chan) that will now be held in Morocco.

“The current federation is doing a better job compared to their predecessors. I can assure you, there will be no incidents involving teams being locked up in hotels over delayed payments,” said Musonye.

FKF President Nick Mwendwa has also opened doors on the possibility of having some matches staged in Kisumu, Mumias and Nairobi.

Up until this moment, the refurbished Bukhungu stadium in Kakamega and Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos are the designated venues for the games. “It’s rainy season and at times some venues might not cope,” said Mwendwa.

“So we have settled on Mumias Sports Complex as an alternative for Kakamega. We also are looking at staging one match involving Kenya in Kisumu. The final could be at Kasarani.”

Ethiopia, Burundi and Tanzania became the first teams to arrive in the country Thursday.

Rwanda and Zanzibar are expected in the country Friday.

The islanders will take a 600km trip to Nairobi via water to Dar es Salaam, road to Mombasa, and onto the Standard Gauge Railway to Nairobi.

Cecafa will meanwhile hold its annual general assembly in Nairobi.

Besides elections to fill up the vacant Executive Committee slots, things could turn hot for council’s boss Mutassim Gafaar who faces a revolt.

Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa) president Moses Magogo has publicly demanded Gafaar’s resignation.