FKF mess: A case of one step forward, two steps backwards

Ababu Namwamba

Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba (centre) speaks during a press conference .with members of the disbanded Football Kenya Federation National Executive Committee on November 4, 2022 at Maktaba Kuu, Nairobi.

Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group

What you need to know:

  • Some will say that the mess left by Amina Mohamed’s last days in office has left Ababu in a no-win situation.
  • That getting back to international football is the only goal, and the means to achieve that goal should not matter at all, and that may be true.

What kind of leadership is this? They are not many local football pundits left these days, but you can almost sense the puzzlement on the few remaining ones’ faces as they try to work it out.

Is it the technocratic, abstract leadership of Amina Mohamed, or the banal unpredictability of Rashid Echesa?

Is this the administration where decisions are made based on how easy, non-abrasive and populist they are, or a leadership that is ready to take and administer the bitter medicine the doctor ordered?

Is new Sports Cabinet secretary Ababu Namwamba going to become a celebrity CS, or a real driver of positive change? 

Ababu “Smart” has only been in office for two weeks and he is already looking shifty. His first week has gone well, but also badly. He has showed willingness to meet and interact with fans of Kenya’s widest followed sport, as witnessed by his attendance of the Kulundeng’ Football Fiesta last Sunday, which is something none of the last two CSs were keen on.

This is a great plus for him because it is in such events that you get to meet the real lovers of the sport.

But Ababu has also started with what looks like an error of judgement, which may augur trouble ahead. He has reinstated the previously banned and suspended FKF National Executive Committee, as a means to end the ongoing impasse in football.

Which law has he used to revive the NEC?

Nobody knows. While bringing back the NEC was the shortest and easiest route back to Fifa’s good books, it brings back bad memories of a time when the Kenyan football scene was riddled by high handedness and a repulsive know-it-all attitude which acted as a cover-up for many illicit activities.

Say what you will, but Barry Otieno stands as a conspicuous symbol of Nick Mwendwa’s hated legacy, and few have moved on from the fact that he denied Harambee Starlets a chance at the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Anyway, he is already at work, and his first order of business raises several questions.

On Tuesday night, the NEC nullified the 2021/2022 FKF Premier League, National Super League, Women Premier League, Men’s Division One and Women’s Division One leagues.  Which begs the question, on what grounds? Is the NEC that remains legally suspended at liberty to make a decision this big?

What became of the findings and recommendations tabled by the government-gazetted Transition Committee? Is this the ‘future full of opportunity’ and the ‘new age of optimism’ Ababu promised?

Some will say that the mess left by Amina Mohamed’s last days in office has left Ababu in a no-win situation.

That getting back to international football is the only goal, and the means to achieve that goal should not matter at all, and that may be true.

As I have always said, the task of introducing hygiene to Kenyan football is perhaps an impossible one.

But are we lifting up our hands in surrender and admitting that we can’t we find a more prudent way of firefighting?

One that doesn’t leave us in this situation where we have to deal with the same people we chased away for corruption and many other crimes against football?

So much for new brooms.