County Football Associations Accuse CS Namwamba of using Fifa to abet corruption in Kenya

By Mourice Seretta

County Football Associations in Kenya are accusing Youth Affairs, Sports and Arts Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba of using World Football Governing Body FIFA to abet corruption in football matters in Kenya.

Addressing the media from a Nairobi Hotel on Wednesday, the Associations led by Nairobi County Association Chairperson, Charles Njoroge, say that CS Namwamba invited FIFA officials into the country for a fact finding mission without involving all football stakeholders in the football fraternity, having in mind that those currently involved in running football matters in the country were bundled out of office due to corruption.

‘We are extremely disappointed in the manner in which CS Ababu Namwamba is starting to handle sports matters in this country. He invited FIFA officials to the country without involving us as football stakeholders. We feel that he has something to hide. Is he using FIFA to sanitize corrupt FKF officials who were bundled out of office? Doesn’t he know they have corruption tags on their necks?’ Quipped Mr Njoroge.

Hitting indirectly at FKF, Njoroge said an ‘illegal entity’ should not be left to run football affairs in the country.

‘Any engagements in matters football must involve all stakeholders across the board.’ He further said.

Njoroge was flanked by Charles Nyauma (County Football Chair Nyamira), Virginia Murimi (County Chair Machakos), Stephen Kiama (County Chair Kisii), James Lagat (County Chair Nandi) Joshua Mukiri (County Chair Tharaka Nithi), Kiplagat Kiptash and Michael Kimani.

This is after world football governing body Fifa promised to help Kenya build its football plans and targets after a torrid nine months ban that was lifted in December.

According to a visiting Fifa and Caf delegation, they were in the country for meetings with the Kenyan government and Football Kenya Federation.

The team was led by Gelson Fernandes, Director Member Associations Africa, Nodar Akhalkatsi, Director Strategic Projects and Governance, Solomon Mudege, Head of Development Programs, Alessandro Gramalgia Strategic Development Manager and Sarah Solemale, Senior Governance Manager.

Also in the delegation was Naddim Magdy, a legal counsel at Caf.

Speaking to the media after meeting with , Fernandes, who is a former Swiss footballer, said Fifa’s main aim is to help the country move forward after months of missing in action.

“We are here to meet all the stakeholders in the next three days. Kenya has a great potential. I had the opportunity of playing against MacDonald Mariga and later with his brother Victor Wanyama. This shows that Kenya can produce world class footballers,” said Fernandes.

“We want to listen and find out where youth, league, and women football stands. We are also transparent with governance. We want things to be run properly and football to be back and have a good image. Every year, we have to audit federations worldwide and that process is very clear. We want to help the federation to plan and achieve its target.”

Ababu said the government will remain an enabler of sports and will not interfere with running of football, but said the federation must conform to the legal framework of the country in its activities.

“The government wants robust football development in the country, we made it clear to Fifa and Caf that Kenya is at rock bottom, but we want to go up. We have agreed on certain targets to help Kenya to go up such as youth football, going back to basics, the aim is to grow football from grassroots, as well as to consolidate football in primary and secondary schools,” said Ababu.

However, the County Football Associations feel that Ababu is not doing enough through the engagements without involving the stakeholders and also for going against the Sports Act 2013 which was his brainchild.

The Sports Act 2013, which is considered to be a brainchild of Namwamba as it was introduced during his first tenure as the then Minister for Sports & Youth, has faced a lot of backlash from various sports stakeholders in the country due to the rigors it demands.

Among these include aligning the constitutions of various Sports associations to the Act and undergoing the new vigorous process of registering, regulating and licensing sports agencies which has posed a serious problem to various federations in sports.

In a post on his official social media platform months ago before taking office officially, Namwamba confidently stated that he will be seeking to complete the ‘revolution’ he started once he gets to office following parliamentary approval.

“On 9.1.2013 as then Minister for Sports & Youth I concluded in Parliament the journey of enacting the Sports Act that targeted to revolutionize Kenyan sports. 9 years later, subject to parliamentary approval, am ready to help complete the revolution as CS Youth, Sports & the Arts,” the CS wrote.

The Associations want him to stick to the rule of law and be transparent with football stakeholders in the country in the running of football matters.