Bwana Ababu, save us from Nick so our football may grow

Off the bat, I would like to congratulate Ababu Namwamba on his nomination as Cabinet Secretary for Sports.

Barring a major calamity, I have no doubt that Ababu will breeze through the parliamentary vetting process and will soon be the man overseeing our sports.

For me and millions other Kenyans, our number one on the wish list to present to Ababu is, please fix our football.

That our football is in dire straits is no secret. Probably the reason thousands of Kenyans are glued on their TV sets and those in social places following the English Premier League with the passion of a novitiate following the Pope’s teachings.

I often get amused when I hear Kenyans talk of “we are selling that defender” or “last leg you beat us but this Sunday we are at home and you will see fire”.

This is a person perched on a bar stool in Nairobi West talking about a team he has no stake whatsoever in and talking like he is a card carrying member of the club.

Yet you will hear the same chap, any shade of irony lost on him, laying charges against the West for trying to re-colonise Africa.

But I digress. The obtaining situation in our football is that the term of the government-appointed Care Taker Committee to run the affairs of the Football Kenya Federation is soon coming to an end. It is time now to have an elected team at Kandanda House to run our football.

The price has been heavy. Our teams cannot participate in any international competitions and our refs have been firmly locked out of officiating in such tourneys.

My joy in welcoming a new team at the helm of football comes with a caveat though.

I have heard it being bandied about that the ousted FKF President Nick Mwendwa is more than chummy with some of the top honchos in the new government.

And that he is planning to leverage on this to ride into office.

Which is not a bad thing in itself and far be it removed from me to begrudge Nick and his friends in high places.

However, those friends of Nick would be doing us, and the country at large, injustice if they were to use the massive powers they wield to have Nick back as the boss at FKF.

For starters, Nick is not the exemplar of a good football manager however thin you stretch the definition of that term.

In simple terms, Nick’s tour of duty at Kandanda House was a monumental failure which has earned itself a place in the history of ignominy.

The world record holder in men’s marathon, Eliud Kipchoge, has spectacularly proven to Kenyans and the world that nothing is impossible and I believe that we have very many upcoming Kipchoge’s playing football in the many pitches spread across the towns, villages and other places in this great country of ours.

What these budding champions need is a federation that would show not only by words but also by action that it is committed to nurturing these young talents and bring them to the national stage.

From there if they prove themselves, clubs from shores yonder will be rushing to Kenya to sign such players.

We saw this with people like Dennis Oliech, McDonald Mariga and Michael Olunga, to name just but a few.

Having watched the man’s disastrous performance the last time he was in town, it is my considered opinion that Nick cannot head the kind of federation I am talking about.

Save us from Nick, Bwana Ababu.

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