Mohammed Hatimy leaves a legacy of peace

Former Football Kenya Limited (FKL) Chairman Mohammed Hatimy will be remembered for showing magnanity at a time when the local game was going through turmoil.

Hatimy, who was also a nominated Member of the County Assembly (MCA), passed away at a Mombasa hospital on Friday. He died of coronavirus.

He was the bigger man when football was engulfed in endless wrangles by putting aside personal interests for the greater good of the game. As FKL boss, he accepted to sign a memorandum of understanding with his adversaries, paving the way for an all-inclusive election in August 2011.

Two parallel bodies battled for control of football. Hatimy led the FKL faction while Sam Nyamweya called the shots at Kenya Football Federation (KFF).

World governing body Fifa backed FKL but it was not recognised by the government, therefore, it was not legally registered locally.  Nyamweya’s KFF was backed by the government, but not Fifa.

KFF filed a case at the Court of Arbitration in Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, and after two years of hearing ,it was concluded that KFF hold an all-inclusive election and form a new federation Football Kenya Federation (FKF) . 

Hatimy and his confidant Mohammed Azziz, on behalf of Fifa, signed an MoU with Nyamweya.

An all-inclusive poll was held in 2011 and Nyamweya carried the day. FKF was duly registered.

Hatimy, popularly known as Babadi in football circles, started off as chairman of Mombasa Wanderers Football Club - a Coast Provincial League side - in 1994.

A year later, he was elected KFF Mombasa sub-branch chairman after defeating Sadla Khamis.

In 2004, Hatimy was elected KFF vice chairman and Alfred Sambu chairman. In 2006, Hatimy hatched a coup and toppled his boss Sambu during a delegates’ conference at Stem Hotel in Nakuru. Ten top-tier league clubs bolted out of KFF.

But the hunter became the hunted when governing council members passed a vote of no confidence in Hatimy at 680 Hotel in Nairobi.

In 2007, an interim committee headed by Peter Ochiel and Lodvick Aduda as acting secretary general  was formed. After three months, polls were held and Nyamweya won.

Hatimy, with Fifa’s backing, continued managing national team while Nyamweya ran the league.

“I proposed Hatimy to take the KFF deputy treasurer’s position. He did not dissapoint,”  Ali Mbarak, a former KFF Coast branch official, who engaged Hatimy in court battles for nearly a decade.

Mbarak said he differed with Hatimy in policy matters but remained friends till he met his death.

Aduda said: “He will be greatly missed. He was a pillar of strength and an inspiration. He left big footprints in football, politics, and public service.”