Government waiting for Fifa’s response on FKF’s integrity
Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba (left) speaks with football coach James Gakonga (right) after appearing before the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare on April 26,2023. Namwamba had appeared before the Committee regarding a petition by Gakonga on Linda Soka Tapping Into The Sh 302 Billion Football Economy.
What you need to know:
- Gakonga wants the FKF disbandend and a new football governing body established.
The Sports CS said the government had sort Fifa’s permission to deal with football situation in Kenya that had led to the international ban that lasted for almost one year.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has said that he is waiting for Fifa’s response on several integrity questions raised over the Nick Mwendwa-led Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
The Sports CS said the government had sort Fifa’s permission to deal with football situation in Kenya that had led to the international ban that lasted for almost one year.
Speaking before the Senate Committee on Labour and Social Welfare on Wedneday, Namwamba said they shared with Fifa a dossier on several integrity issues on FKF and asked the World football governing body to allow the government to address them.
Namwamba said the dossier was given to the Fifa delegation which visited the country in January. The delegation was led by Gelson Fernandes, the Fifa Director Members Association Africa and former footballers.
“We shared with him (Gelson Fernandes) a dossier on the serious integrity questions that have risen around football and we sort the consent of Fifa for government to start dealing with those issue in a manner that Fifa will not consider to be interference that would lead to another suspension,” said Namwamba.
“We are still waiting for official communication from Fifa on how to deal with the issues detailed in the dossier. I want to confirm to this committee that a lot of issues that have been raised by the petitioner are issues already included in the dossier.”
Namwamba appeared before the committee chaired by Senator Julius Murgor interrogating a petition titled “Linda Soka Tapping Into the Sh302 Billion Football Economy” by UK-based football coach James Gakonga.
Gakonga wants the FKF disbanded and a new football governing body established.
He argues that the Mwendwa-led FKF is bedeviled by problems including corruption and abuse of office thus cannot effectively govern Kenyan football.
The court dismissed the Sh38 million theft case against Mwendwa on March 29 effectively clearing the path for him to resume his duties at Kandanda House.
Mwendwa had been out of football management since November 11, 2021, when former Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed disbanded the federation.
This was after an audit that she ordered on the federation, reported misappropriation of funds, and abuse of office.
Amina replaced the federation with the FKF Caretaker Committee, while Mwendwa was later arrested and charged with four counts of theft amounting to Sh38 million
Fifa lifted Kenya’s suspension on November 28 last year after Namwamba reinstated FKF’s NEC.
While responding to a question from Embu Senator Alexander Mundigi, Namwamba said the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu is inspecting several programmes, projects and federations including FKF.
He said the government would take action based on the audits' findings.
“We have asked the Auditor General to audit a number of programmes, projects and federations. FKF is among the federations that the Auditor General is looking at and upon the conclusion of that exercise, we intend to take action as advised by the Auditor General,” he said.
