Kenyan football quagmire: Ball on Amina’s feet for next move

Local football followers will be waiting with bated breath on Thursday to see if and how the administrative limbo in the game is resolved.

On Tuesday the FKF Caretaker Committee presented its report to Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, with a raft of recommendations, a day before its term came to and.

The sport now has no legal body in place to manage its affairs.

Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed is largely expected to name a transition committee or secretariat that will be in charge of football.

Amina, while receiving the report from the Aaron Ringera led caretaker committee at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on Tuesday, promised that a direction would be given on the way forward and that she would consult stakeholders and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The top flight leagues in the country are approaching their conclusions and need to be under some form of management.

Clubs are already wondering about who will be in charge of this weekend’s fixtures.

Any chance of the disbanded FKF office returning were quashed by the high court on Tuesday which ruled that the action the Sports CS took against the bungling officials was legal.

Another elephant in the room is how Fifa will react to the latest development.

Fifa has all long insisted that it does not stand for third party interference of it’s affiliate bodies and will only consider lifting the international ban on Kenya after the government reverses its decision to disband the FKF office that was led by Nick Mwendwa.

Fifa suspended Kenya in February.

FKF presidential aspirant Twaha Mbarak said he expected Amina to form a restructured committee or the government to engage Fifa on the formation of a normalisation committee.

The experienced football administrator said the court ruling exonerated Amina from blame.

He said that the inspection report showed massive financial irregularities that should be presented to Fifa so that they can take action against the former FKF officials.

“It is Mwendwa who took (Amina)Mohamed to court and he has lost meaning he has to be held accountable for the financial misappropriation,” said Mbarak.

Another presidential aspirant Lordvick Aduda said the decision and actions expected from the CS must take into consideration the country’s international ban.

“She must consider that there is a vacuum in the FKF leadership after the High Court ratified her decision. The general assembly also revoked FKF NEC members. However, another committee is a wrong way to go since the Fifa issue will remain,” said Aduda.

“The only solution is for FKF departmental heads to be allowed back to the office to resume management and coordination of the activities which for the past six months have been undertaken by the caretaker committee,” he added.

However, the veteran football administrator said the decision by the branches to replace the FKF NEC could be a blessing since the new officials can work for the remainder of the term before the next elections if they get the blessings of Fifa and the government.

The FKF Caretaker Committee was constituted on November 11 on a six-month mandate.