Unending FKF-KPL tiffs take toll on Kenyan game

PAIN OF LOSING: Dejected Kenya’s Harambee Stars players walk out of the pitch after their want-to-forget international friendly match against Swaziland at Kenyatta Stadium in Machakos on May 25, 2018. The African football minnows stunned Kenya 1-0. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO |

What you need to know:

  • Corporate manager with deep pockets said to be eyeing FKF leadership.
  • Alarm grows over falling standards of football in country as officials feud.

The recent squabbles pitting top football officials is part of an elaborate power battle to influence the next Football Kenya Federation elections, Nation Sport has established.

The elections will be in 2020 but already alignments and strategies are being crafted.

The conflict is also part of the decade-long administrative tug of war between the national body and the league organizers over the running of the game and control of millions of shillings in sponsorship.

The latest instalment of these endless feud played out last week, when Kenyan Premier League’s Chief Executive Jack Oguda hauled his boss FKF president Nick Mwendwa before court, accusing him of failing to “follow the rule of law’’.

The two were engaged in a dispute over how to harmonise league matches so as to accommodate two hastily arranged friendly international matches involving Harambee Stars against Swaziland and Equatorial Guinea.

Oguda eventually won that case filed at the Sports Disputes Tribunal, with the ruling insisting he had full mandate to determine when and how league matches are played.

This development however left Mwendwa seething.

“Two KPL officers in the name of Jack (Oguda) and Frank (Okoth) have hijacked the game,” claimed Mwendwa.”

“If you keep quarrelling with your wife, at some point the only option is separation or divorce.”

He vowed to ensure they do not return to the league when the current agreement between KPL and FKF expires in 2020. 

These utterances have raised concerns from various stakeholders as standards of the game continue to fall.

“Players in Kenya are now used to such distractions,” said James Situma, the chairman of Kenya Footballers Welfare Association. “It really affects us when, we, the people supposed to plan on how to improve our welfare are fighting all the time.”

“He (Mwendwa) should leave KPL alone and concentrate on developing the game,” said Martin Kiarie, formerly FKF’s Mount Kenya branch chairman.

Former FKF president Sam Nyamweya, whose four year reign was also characterised by squabbles with KPL also added his voice, stating: “We all support the national team but football cannot be run by chest thumping. What is happening now is a recipe for chaos in the game and will drive away sponsors.”

Nation Sport has established Mwendwa is under increased pressure from the government and sponsors to improve on Harambee Stars performances starting with the crunch 2019 Africa Nations Cup qualification match against Ghana in Nairobi come September.

FKF honchos are also said to be running scared following the emergence of a top corporate manager said to be preparing to challenge Mwendwa for the top seat in the 2020 elections.

The man, reportedly with deep pockets, is said to have the blessings of KPL.

There also exists competing interests between FKF and KPL on how to manage the football league’s TV rights. 

Crucially, the lucrative business of establishing a mobile phone application to sell content to subscribers is said to have fuelled the battle.

FKF/KPL Battle timelines

February 2016 – Mwendwa, 36, is overwhelmingly elected into office, dethroning Nyamweya who opts not to vie.

March 2016 – Mwendwa proposes the expansion of the Kenyan Premier League by two clubs to 18. KPL overwhelmingly rejects the proposal.

November 2016 to April 2017 – Mwendwa revisits the proposal and KPL again rejects the idea, leading to the mother of all battles and ultimately the exit of Pay-TV channel SuperSport who cite among others a lack of ideal working environment.

October 2017 – FKF and KPL publicly disagree on the methodology to promote and relegate teams from the Kenyan Premier League.

February 2018 – Mwendwa accused of undermining KPL, by working with a section of teams to form a breakaway entity.

May 2018 – KPL reject Mwendwa’s proposal to postpone league matches so as to allow new Harambee Stars coach Sebastien Migne use players in international friendlies against Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland.