Namwamba invites KPL clubs for consultative meeting

Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba will Thursday meet chairmen of the 18 Kenyan Premier League (KPL ) clubs to discuss the state of Kenyan football.

The Fifa suspension will headline the meeting where the 18 chairmen are also expected to give their proposals regarding resumption of the top tier league.

The kick off date for the new season is yet to be announced due to the uncertainty regarding the leadership of football in the country following the expiry of the mandate of FKF Transition Committee last month.

Kenya Premier League Limited Chief Executive Jack Oguda on Tuesday confirmed to Nation Sport that he had invited all 18 top tier clubs for the Thursday meeting at the Ministry of Sports offices at Kenya National Library building.

"The meeting will take place on Thursday morning  and communication has already reached the 18 clubs. I was instructed to send an email to all the clubs by our chairman Ambrose Rachier," said Oguda.

Nation Sport understand that the meeting will only involve chairmen of KPL clubs and not Football Kenya Federation officials led by embattled President Nick Mwendwa.

It comes only a few days before Fifa shifts its focus to the World Cup set to kick off on November 20 in Doha, Qatar.

Fifa's attention will be on the World Cup from November 8 and Kenya has until then to convince the world football governing body to lift the suspension or wait until after December 20 when the competition ends.

After taking over the Ministry of Sports from Amina Mohamed last week, Namwamba called Fifa over Kenya's suspension but the extent of the engagement has not been made public to football stakeholders.

Kakamega Homeboyz Chairman Cleophas Shimanyula confirmed that he will attend the Thursday meeting and urged Namwamba to crack the whip on officials who are responsible for the current mess.

"I was very vocal when the game was being mismanaged by selfish individuals who, just because they were in leadership,  thought they were small gods and couldn't tolerate divergent opinions. I will be in Nairobi to attend the meeting with the CS and give my proposal on the way foward. Those who have mismanaged the game should not be anywhere in leadership if we are to better our football," said Shimanyula.

Nzoia Sugar chairman Evans Kadenge also confirmed that he will attend the meeting and is optimistic it will help sort out the current mess.

"The Fifa suspension has negatively affected football and those who depend on it. We should not only look at lifting suspension but also taking football back to where it was by attracting sponsors and improving on all other areas," said Kadenge.

Kenya was suspended from international football by Fifa back in February this year. This is after the former Sports CS Amina disbanded the federation in November last year due to alleged misappropriation of funds.

Mwendwa, who stepped aside from his position as FKF President, is still battling court cases and some stakeholders have opposed his return to management of football.

Fifa while issuing the suspension, gave a raft of conditions for it to be lifted notably the reinstatement of FKF's secretariat to their Kandanda House offices.