Rough ride for FKF chief Mwendwa

The withdrawal of Kenya’s hosting rights for next year’s Africa Nations Championship (Chan) is the latest in a stretching list of gaffes highlighting Football Kenya Federation’s 16-month tenure in office.

The Confederation of African Football president Ahmad Ahmad announced the decision to take away the hosting rights after chairing a day long meeting of his executive committee meeting in Accra, Ghana last weekend.

The announcement drew stinging criticism from the public directed at both Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Gurach Arero Wario and FKF president Nick Mwendwa.

Football lovers averred that the government and the federation should have done more to ensure the tournament stayed in Kenya.

Some have even dared the two officials to resign, to which Mwendwa has responded by stating he is staying put.

Looking back Mwendwa, 38, has suffered several setbacks in his football leadership since taking over the helm of FKF.

The first major setback of Mwendwa’s four-year term occurred in April last year, six weeks after he’d assumed office.

Incidentally, it was Caf, again, that cracked the whip on FKF, by banning the country’s Uunder-20 national team from competing in the Africa Nations Cup tournament upon discovering Kenya had fielded over-age players in a qualification game against Sudan.

That disqualification was received with shock, and attracted criticism from all corners of the country.

Then came the squabbles.

First, FKF took on Extreme Sports, a private company that has been involved in grassroots football activities for the past decade or so.

Rightly so, the national body ordered the company to conform to FKF’s plan and calendar of events to ensure the two institutions are in sync on matters football development.

The way that message was packaged was however questioned, resulting into a series of public spats and court battles.

Next up for FKF was an affront against the Kenya Premier League Limited, which interestingly is a company Mwendwa's institution has mandated to manage the top flight football competition named the SportPesa Premier League on its behalf.

Here, Mwendwa insisted the top flight football league which has consisted 16 clubs for the past decade, should pronto be increased to 18 starting this year.

The league's management disagreed citing among other, unavailability of funds to cater for the extra teams, plus an existing contract with the competition's sponsors.

This resulted in a exchange of not so pleasant words between the two camps via the media going on for a number of months, plus court battles, threats by FKF of lengthy suspension and even bans towards KPL officials, and, crucially, a delay in the start of the league this season.

Unfortunately, this stalemate significantly contributed to the withdrawal of a significant partner of Kenyan football in the frame of Supersport in April this year.

The South African based Pay-Tv channel which has invested close to Sh3 billion into the Kenyan Premier League over the last eight years in sponsorship monies and production costs, abruptly pulled out of a broadcast rights deal with the KPL valued at Sh200 million shillings each year.

Apart from losing out on the monies and switching off Kenyan football matches from a continental audience, this move also rendered some 350 employees, most of them youthful, jobless.

In another similar altercation, FKF as the agent of Caf in Kenya, would late last year announce a move to introduce a set of rules referred to as Club Licensing, meant to professionalize the running of football in Kenya.

Fair enough.

However, again, the approach to this project was questioned after Mwendwa issued ultimatums and demands, mostly via the mainstream media, while threatening to relegate clubs that didn't meet the stringent criteria.

Again, court battled ensued involving the affected teams namely, Muhoroni Youth and Sofapaka.

The clubs triumphed.

Fast forward and late last week, Justice John Mativo sitting at the High Court in Nairobi, ruled that the eventual expansion of SportPesa Premier League to involve 18 teams was done unprocedurally.

He also rubbished the way the Club Licensing rules were implemented and also ordered Mwendwa not to interfere with the running of the KPL.

Meanwhile as a result of this ruling, two clubs, Nakumatt and Zoo Kericho have been suspended from the top flight, again leaving some 120 employees, including 65 players (all aged under 32 years), jobless.

"That's a political ruling. We respect it, but we shall appeal. I'm sure the clubs will also appeal," Mwendwa commented last Thursday.

Granted, the national women football team, Harambee Starlets, have been a shining pointer of Mwendwa's leadership, especially following that appearance at the Women Africa Cup of Nations for the first time ever, last November.

That said, greater scrutiny from the public domain surrounds Mwendwa's choice of the men team's technical bench alongside the selection of players during competitions, amid several theories of favouritism frequently discussed on social media.

Amid all that, Harambee Stars coach Stanley Okumbi has consistently come short when it really matters, winning only one of the five competitive fixtures he's been in charge of, at home to the Republic of Congo in what was a dead rubber assignment as Kenya had at that time been eliminated from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.

In contrast, Okumbi has overseen losses to Guinea Bissau (twice) last year and Sierra Leone in mid this year, teams considered inferior to Kenya, considering the Fifa ranking and resources.

Okumbi's next assignment is against the "Mighty" Black Stars of Ghana in March next year. Ardent football lovers will hope that Mwendwa and his gang, would have completed their soul searching by then.