Nick Mwendwa architect of his own loud fall

Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. Those were the eerie words a fiery hand scribbled on a king’s wall to the consternation of the partying nobles.

The spooky meaning of it had to be deciphered only by a prophet of Yahweh. When the writing is on the wall, cards fall so fast that even VAR approves an offside goal.

The proverbial 40th day always has a way of flipping souls. If Jesus the Son of God, had a difficult time convincing the sinners on the cross that he was their saviour, how about a mere mortal? From the days of Adam, man often errs at the last minute when wisdom takes a sabbatical.

When Football Kenya Federation boss Nick Mwendwa addressed a hurriedly organised presser on Thursday, he probably had underestimated the might of the government. He spoke with careless abandon and chest-thumped about his connections with Fifa.

He asserted that FKF was only answerable to Fifa and not to the Ministry of Sport. He chirped shrilly: “We, the ousted FKF officials, shall remain in charge, and football will continue in this country under our leadership.”

Football in this country, according to him, can only go on under his “leadership”.

Mwendwa has failed to comprehend the magnitude of the problem. He has always styled himself as the alpha and omega of football in this land and the celebrations of his ousting don’t seem to register into his dull senses.

“Sauti Sol”, as they call him in certain sports circles, miscalculated badly and placed his tiny frame on the line when he had easier options to wriggle his way out of trouble. As the Swahili would say, alicheza na shilingi chooni. In his folly, he blindly followed the Sepp Blatter/Michel Platini stylebook.

He is surely a versatile man, a contra Midas who turns to dung anything he touches. Indeed, it is a talent even though a negative one. When he just got into office, he sacked the coach and put the whole country in the ditch.

Fifa ruled that FKF should pay some Sh100 million to Monsieur Amrouche.

He did not stop there. The Kenyan Premier League was proceeding too smoothly for his liking. He forced the addition of two more teams and thus breaking contract with the sponsor, who calmly exited. He was now overjoyed running a broke league.

His sins are legion but what makes him be forcefully plucked from his perch are the financial queries that made him visit the Directorate of Criminal Investigations headquarters.

While disbanding the federation on Thursday, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed said that over the years, FKF has had several governance issues, including failure to account for funds.

FKF spent a Sh125 million Fifa grant in 2017 to purchase an Outside Broadcast (OB) van but never got possession of it after the UK company involved in the deal, WTS, went under.

It failed to account for the Sh244 million the government advanced it to prepare Harambee Stars for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

A report by the Auditor-General flagged Sh11 million of the funds that were transferred from FKF to Mwendwa’s account.

The federation received close to Sh150 million Fifa Covid-19 relief to cushion local clubs and players from the pandemic but little was seen of it with those earmarked to benefit claiming they did not see a cent. FKF is that pocket with a huge hole; anything called money must just vanish.

This is not the first time the government is disbanding the federation.

In 2006, then-Sports Minister Maina Kamanda dissolved the federation and formed an eight-member caretaker committee to run the game.

In 2004, Sports Minister Najib Balala formed a Stakeholders Transitional Committee to take over the running of football after the federation’s term expired without elections being held.

Mwendwa may scream as piercing as he likes; he may kick and struggle with all his energy, but all his jarring tone must come to naught.

The ministry should not just sit back and wait, he must be made to prove his innocence if he’s ever to be seen hovering even 400m from Kandanda House.

We must all the same wish him a nice weekend as a guest of the state.

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