Nicked in the bud! Where will voiceless Mwendwa hide now?

For those who have followed Kenyan football for long, it is hard, unbelievable even, to see how mightily Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa has fallen.

Having seized power from strong man Sam Nyamweya, Mwendwa assumed office with the weight of all football stakeholders behind him. He was young, clever, charismatic and well versed with matters football. His background, too, was relatable – a boy from “Bangu” (Kariobangi).

His slogan during the campaign was “Team Change”, and it worked wonderfully, for change is the one thing Kenyans wanted after years of wrangling and then a Sam Nyamweya leadership that can best be described as incompetent.

In the elections on Feb 10, 2016,  that Nyamweya withdrew at the 11th hour, Mwendwa garnered 50 votes to Ambrose Rachier’s 27.

Mwendwa did have his moments. He was in charge when Kenya finally qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations after 15 long years.

He ensued regular assignments for the different national teams. Several sponsors, many of them betting companies, spent their money on football during his tenure. He sustained the Women’s Premier League and the National Super League despite some challenges.

But, successes are just about enough. So, what were the clues that pointed to his unexpected fall?

In his quest to bringing a fresh approach, he made too many enemies.
When he made the unilateral decision of expanding the league from 16 to 18 teams shortly after his election, nobody thought much of it.

Nobody viewed this as what it was: an elaborate first sign of a terrible character flaw that has now come to strangle him – senseless arrogance.

By expanding the league, Mwendwa showed that he is capable of making unilateral decisions, on a whim, without a care of who or what is affected. He also showed that he didn’t mind making enemies, both within and outside football.

He expanded the league against the wishes of the league managers, and later struggled to honour his promise to pay Sh38 million every season for the two extra clubs.

In so doing, Mwendwa alienated the Kenyan Premier League Limited, which was by then the body tasked with running the league, and who had for long fought against the league expansion in court. They became his first ever enemies among football stakeholders.

This pride and arrogance preceded him even among his counterparts across the continent. At his first official meeting with fellow FA presidents from Africa in Cairo in 2016, Mwendwa shocked the crowd when he arrived clad in a tracksuit and sports shoes.

He was perhaps displaying his youthful exuberance, but his dress code provided a sharp contrast with the rest of the delegates who were all in crisp blue suits.

Indeed, he struggled to build meaningful alliances with fellow African FA presidents and has never broken into the “deep state” of African football leadership.

At a press conference about three months after his election, Mwendwa publicly announced that he would resign if Kenya would fail to host the African Nations Cup.

This loose talk was to be another character flaw that characterised his tenure. Mwendwa was known to make profound statements, many of which he did not intend or even bother to follow through.

When Kenya failed to win hosting rights for Chan, he said he  was going nowhere. Those who reminded him of his declaration to resign were branded enemies.

In Mwendwa’s world, all uncomfortable questions were malicious and anyone who dared ask difficult questions was an enemy.

It is because of this that many journalists and even ordinary fans were either barred from attending press conferences, ejected from said pressers and matches, or denied accreditation to matches.

Vincent Opiyo, formerly a reporter at Daily Nation but now on his way to priesthood, was once asked to leave the press conference, just as lunch was about to be served, because he had written a “negative” story about the federation.

In TV interviews and debates, where he was well known for arrogantly dismissing his opponents and belittling journalists’ knowledge of the game, he was also a know-it-all.

He may have cultivated this habit of arrogance from managing his club, Kariobangi Sharks.

There, he was king. He played all roles. Many wondered why he bothered to hire a coach, because he frequently left his seat and stormed the touchline to issue instructions to the team, whenever he felt the coach wasn’t doing enough.

To his detriment, he brought this approach to the country’s football. He surrounded himself with yes men who always nodded along to his ideas and suggestions.

Those who dared voice a different opinion, such as former FKF Deputy CEO Herbert Mwachiro and others found themselves out the door.

Little did he know that he would soon be put in his place, as bullies often are, by the long arm of the law.

And when he won the re-election last year with a landslide amid protests from the Sports Registrar and opponents, Mwendwa became impossible. He talked about his popularity as if it were the ultimate argument for why he should be president.

Nick’s bandwagon started going backwards when he made enemies with the state machinery.

First, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed tolerated him, as most diplomats would do. It started about two years ago, when Kirimi Kaberia was the Principal Secretary at Kencom House.

Kaberia got tired of Mwendwa’s arrogance and particularly his penchant for bypassing authority and opting to seek CS Amina directly on all matters.

Kaberia began limiting the funds available for Mwendwa’s use from the ministry, and once denied completely to fund a national team’s trip to Egypt, explaining that Mwendwa had failed to account for monies given to him for previous national team assignments.

Kaberia transferred

When the noise became too much, Kaberia was transferred to the Ministry of Mining, much to the jubilation of those in Kandanda House.

By failing to read the winds of change blowing, Mwendwa proved to be a surprisingly naïve politician, while pretending to be a non-politician. He gave empty promises, promoted himself tirelessly, never admitted to being wrong, and ignored resentments until it was too late.

The media, which hugely celebrated his election on 2016, pampered him for long, partly because they genuinely thought he was a better choice than the predecessor, and partly because friendly journalists sometimes received personal gain and privilege. But, even the most corrupt journalists know where to draw the line.

The fans, though easy to ignore, are permanent structures, with a lot of clout.

Mwendwa seemed to forget the last part of that sentence. He saw no importance in interacting respectfully with the fans, never considered them stakeholders, perhaps because they hold no vote in the election system.

It is after he took over the management of the league that the Mashemeji derby lost its allure, with no marketing strategies to promote the game. Being the most highly anticipated match of the season, the Nairobi derby became just another fixture, and Mwendwa didn’t seem bothered.

But his greatest crime was to make enemies of Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards fans. In July this year, the two clubs refused to play the derby due to non-payment of prize money owed to them for their triumph in the FKF Betway Cup.

He ignored the two chairmen’s pleas and even threatened to sanction them if the teams failed to show up. Well, Mwendwa fined the two clubs and docked them points, effectively making enemies of the two clubs.

What a costly move! The fans responded by disparaging Mwendwa online and on the pitch. In fact, they coined the hashtag #MwendwaMustGo and were the first to call for his sacking and the disbandment of FKF. It was downhill for FKF from there.

The final straw for Mwendwa was his falling out with the government, through the Sports Ministry, a second time.

Character wise, Amina is the opposite of Mwendwa. She is calm, collected and measured. But, beneath her charm and gentleness, seemed to lie a great need and desire to show her teeth. Since her days at the Ministry of Education, Amina has for long been viewed as a lame duck administrator.

She was eager to show, for once, that she could indeed be a no-nonsense executive, that she can also bite. And with his arrogance, Mwendwa simply brought himself to her lair. When he started to arm twist and then insult Amina, hoping to get support from politicians high in the power structure, it was game over. Checkmate.

As he is dealing with summons after summons and accusation after accusation of malpractice, high handedness and misappropriation of funds, Mwendwa now finds himself a lonely man.

He yearns for the support of the media, but too many of them were in his Black Book. Few see the need to stand with him. He ran to politicians, and they did try to cover him, but it was too late.

What Mwendwa needs right now is support from within football, not without. Can he get it?

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