CS Amina: Over Sh430m public money given to FKF since 2019

Details provided by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed to a parliamentary committee Wednesday suggest that Football Kenya Federation received over Sh430.5 million public money from 2019.

All the funding was drawn from the Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund. Amina appeared before the Committee on Sports and Tourism, which oversights the Ministry where she defended the government’s decision to investigate the financial operations of the federation. 

She dismissed insinuations that the move was political. Two weeks ago, the CS directed the Office of the Registrar of Sports to audit the financial affairs of the federation following repeated allegations of corruption.

However, Mavoko MP Patrick Makau, who chairs the committee, challenged the CS to explain the rationale behind the investigations, terming it as political on the grounds that most sports federations were suffering from internal strife.

“This committee will not sit here and meekly watch as football is being politicised,” he declared, while challenging the CS to explain why FKF was singled out.

“Is it because Harambee Stars lost 5-0 to Mali? We can’t allow players being messed up because of the misunderstanding in FKF or just because some people are keen to politicise football.”

Makau ordered the Ministry to submit to the committee a list of all registered federations and and show if they were entangled in wrangles. He challenged the CS to ensure that the audit on FKF was conducted in compliance with the law so that all the parties were given a fair chance.

“We want a legal and procedural process in settling disputes.”

Amina said the decision to call for the audit was driven by stakeholders who have interest in the sport and challenged the committee, and critics, to give the process a chance.

“The process will be open, just and legitimate,” she assured the committee. “It is a process that is for the good of the sport and there will be no externality that will impact the process. What we are doing is to make sure that everything in FKF is clear. We are not thinking about politics affecting anything.”

Those being investigated as a result of the directive is FKF President Nick Mwendwa, who is suspected to have misappropriated a significant portion of the Sh244 million the state extended to the federation to prepare Harambee Stars for the 2019 African Cup of Nations that was hosted by Egypt.

The first disbursement from the kitty to the federation was the Sh244.5 million for the 2019 Afcon.

The federation was given another Sh21.3 million to cater for the emoluments of the individuals who handled Harambee stars as coaches.

In the 2019/20 financial year, the state gave the federation another Sh3.8 million for the 2020 African Nations Championship qualifiers, another Sh11 million for Harambee Stars qualifications matches for the 2022 Afcon, Sh8.8 million for Harambee Starlets Olympics qualifiers and another Sh9.5 million for the Harambee participation in the Cecafa tournament.

The federation further received Sh44 million for its 2021 Afcon qualifying matches against Comoros, home and away.

For the home game, the fund released Sh20.7 million and Sh22.7 million for the away match.

For the 2022 Afcons qualifiers against Egypt, the federation received Sh11.1 million and another Sh13.2 million for the Togo fixture.

Another Sh18 million was given to the federation for the Under-23 men Cecafa Challenge Cup, Sh10.2 million for the World Cup qualifier away to Rwanda’s Amavubi Stars, Sh8.8 million for the home match against Uganda in the same qualifiers and another Sh12 million for the Women Cecafa Club Championship which Kenya hosted this year.

The federation also received another Sh17.3 million for the Under-20 Women World Cup qualifiers.

Amina told the committee that she had invoked her power and called for the audit of how the federation had used the funds to make sure that the books of the federation are clear.

The audit committee, which is chaired by Registrar of Sports Rose Wasike, has two weeks to submit its report to the Ministry.

Amina promised to present the findings to the committee.

“The roadmap on the future of FKF will be determined by the findings of the committee. If the audit establishes that everything at the federation is okay, there will be no need to go further.

“If the committee establishes that there are issues, we shall engage stakeholders on the way forward,” Amina said.

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