What were those coaching courses conducted by FKF all about?

On March 20 last year, we woke up to the sweet news that Football Kenya Federation (FKF) had rolled out coaching courses all over the country.

We who love football almost went wild with jubilation. It was a new era with fresh faces – and others not so fresh-in charge of football in the country.

Of course, the courses would be of great benefit to the grass roots since qualified coaches would train our youngsters on the basics of football and in the end, the country would reap large.

FKF President Nick Mwendwa had this to say: “When we were elected a year ago, we made a commitment to change the game by ensuring that we provide quality education for our coaches.”

“Today I am happy to announce that the federation having successfully trained 2,000 coaches last year, has rolled out CAF C license coaching courses that will see 140 coaches graduate on April 9, 2017,” Mwendwa added.

He was indeed justified to be ‘happy’. But it didn’t end there. He added with pride: “It is our belief that this important course will not only help build capacity but also bridge a huge and sensitive gap that has in the past denied local coaches job opportunities both home and abroad,”

Well, the course took place and many coaches were eager to learn. The completed their courses. The only problem is that they never graduated! They learnt all the basics and whatever was offered but there was no recognition that they ever undertook the programme!

Even if that was not enough, another course was rolled out in November of the same year and even more coaches took part.

All of those hapless people were never certified by the Confederation of African Football (Caf). After their ‘education’ they were left without answers until today.

We suspected that this was just a public relations stunt by the FKF and perhaps we were right! The Confederation of African Football (Caf) Technical Director Raul Chipenda was in the country to oversee a five-day Caf Technical Directors workshop.

He clarified: “Caf Certifications were temporarily suspended early this year and will only resume after the Caf Executive Committee meeting in September 2018,”

“It’s only after that will we be able to roll out the courses afresh and also work on the pending certificates.” He also hinted that Caf is reviewing its curriculum, and that is one of the reasons why certificates have taken this long to be given to coaches!

We have long known the incompetence of FKF but indeed we did not know that a small thing as issuing of credentials could take this long as they drag their feet about it.

If it goes on this way, who shall take seriously their courses even if they roll them out afresh? Will those that took part in the last courses be affected by the change of curriculum?

Did Caf and Fkf even bother about those they had trained? Could they get any job locally or internationally without this certification?

Caf must do better than this. For those trained we take the opportunity to say sorry.