Dennis Oliech reveals preferred line-up ahead of FKF polls

Former Harambee Stars captain Dennis 'The Manace' Oliech has thrown his weight behind Nicholas Musonye and Sammy Shollei ahead of the upcoming Football Kenya Federation presidential polls.

On Wednesday, FKF Electoral chairperson Kentice Tikolo board issued a roadmap for the fresh elections which will be held on October 17. This was after world football governing body Fifa instructed FKF to hold the elections afresh from the branch to the national level. The polls had been cancelled twice by the Sports Dispute Tribunal for not being held within the confines of the law.

Better candidates

Oliech says it is only the duo who have the interest of the game at heart and can transform Kenyan football given their "impressive" track record.

Musonye and Shollei are part of a pre-election coalition dubbed "Super Alliance" that was formed on July 14. Other members of the coalition which is looking to unseat incumbent Nick Mwendwa are Twaha Mbarak and Lordvick Aduda.

While Mbarak has served as Vice president of the federation before, Aduda is a renowned football administrator who has held the post of CEO at FKF and record Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia.  

Oliech says Musonye left a mark at Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) where he served for a record 20 years as Secretary General. It is during Musonye's reign that Cecafa consistently staged the Kagame Cup, Senior Challenge Cup for both men and women as well as regional youth tournaments.

Corporates such as Azam, Castle Lager, SuperSport and EABL have all sponsored Cecafa tournaments in the past. A record four teams (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi) from the region qualified for Africa Cup of Nations last year.

The former Kenyan international says that Kenyan football badly needs Musonye's experience and remains optimistic that the veteran administrator can replicate his Cecafa success at FKF.

Shollei, who served as FKF vice president during Sam Nyamweya's reign, played for the national team, Kenya Breweries (now Tusker) and Raymond FC in the 80s and 90s.

The former Auxerre striker believes that given Shollei is a former player, he will help Musonye to improve the welfare of Kenyan footballers who often live from hand to mouth.

Clubs struggle

Kenyan Premier League clubs have struggled to pay salaries to players due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some players have been forced to do menial jobs to support their families.

"The safest bet amongst those vying for the FKF presidency are Musonye and Shollei. I urge delegates to support them because they can change our football and bring fans back to the stadium," Oliech said.

"They are all experienced administrators and Shollei is also former player who understands what needs to be done professionally for football to improve in Kenya."

Oliech revealed that he is drumming support for the pair among his former teammates at the national team.

"I am not actively involved in the campaigns but I have always fronted the idea to those we played with so that we support Musonye and Shollei."

"The only problem is that we have delegates who can easily be swayed and vote for some aspirants who have nothing to offer. As long as underhand tactics thrive, delegates shall always vote in bad leaders," he added.

The former Mathare United striker took a swipe at the current administration.

"What has the current administration done different from the past regimes? Even qualifications for the last African Cup of Nations was by luck and can't be compared to what we did in 2004. So long as we elect individuals who only serve their interest, football will remain where it is today," he said.

Other aspirants for FKF's top seat are Tom Alila, Herbert Mwachiro and journalist Boniface Osano.

Mwendwa will be gunning to become the first FKF president to defend his seat since the turn of the millennium. All his predecessors Maina Kariuki, Mohammed Hatimy, Alfred Sambu and Sam Nyamweya have been unsuccessful.

Retired

Oliech, a vocal figure on players' rights and renumeration during his playing days, retired in January this year after unceremoniously leaving Gor Mahia. He is arguably Kenya's finest strikers after a 13-year career with Harambee Stars where he scored many crucial goals notably the screamer against Cape Verde at Kasarani that secured the national team a place in the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.

At club level, he started out at Mathare United as a teenager before joining Al Arabi in Qatar. He then moved to France where he turned out for Nantes, Auxerre and Ajaccio before retiring after a short stint with Gor.