Report reveals rot in the running of Kenya soccer
FILE | NATION
A past African Cup of Nations qualifier pitting Kenya’s Harambee Stars against Uganda’s Cranes at the Nyayo National Stadium. A new report has condemned the management of the sport in the country, detailing how the country’s football chiefs stole Sh15 million and lost a whopping Sh70 million sponsorship.
A report compiled by a group of African journalists on corruption in soccer details how greedy soccer officials stole Sh15 million from KFF accounts, crippling football development in the country.
The report says that KFF officials who took office in September 2000 also lost soccer sponsorship worth Sh70 million from corporate companies, leaving thousands of soccer players without any source of livelihood.
This is because the only source of income from the national soccer team Harambee Stars and local clubs came from this sponsorship.
“In just three years, the team had cleared the Sh15 million ($200,000) cash surplus in KFF coffers and lost Sh70 million ($933,000) sponsorships from Kenya Breweries Ltd, BAT, and Glaxo Smithkline,” the report compiled by journalist Ken Opala reveals.
“By the time the group left office in 2006, the federation couldn’t meet its Sh400,000 ($5,300) tax obligation, forcing the Kenya Revenue Authority to freeze its accounts. The group left a deficit of Sh24 million ($320,000),” the report goes on.
But when then Sports minister Najib Balala intervened to stop the rot by suspending the KFF leadership, the world soccer governing body Fifa stepped in and suspended Kenya from all its activities. The suspension was lifted after six months.
The report details how the government was this year forced to step in and donate Sh750,000 to transport Harambee Stars players and officials to an Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match in Kampala in May this year after it had been abandoned by federation officials who were enjoying themselves in an all-expenses paid trip to the USA.
“This morning we have been forced to spend Sh750,000 ($10,000) to take the boys to Kampala,” Sports Commissioner Gordon Oluoch is quoted as saying. “The federation guys are in the US.”
The report details how former Harambee Stars coach Francis Kimanzi burnt his fingers when he stood in the way of international friendlies in Spain and Egypt, which the soccer chiefs had organised hoping to pocket millions of shillings in appearance fees.
Would not give desired exposure
Kimanzi had argued that the trip would not give the national team the desired exposure as the teams they were scheduled to play were mediocre beside the fact that premier league clubs also needed their players in the national team for domestic duties.
“The federation had banked on the expected “appearance fees” and did not seem responsive to the argument that the welfare of the clubs that produced players for the national team, was at stake,” the report notes.
“The trip to Spain would have been a windfall for the federation. Instead the federation was fined for failing to fulfil the match,” reads the report.
“We were fined Sh8 million for turning down an offer that we had earlier consented to,” one of the country’s soccer chiefs, Erastus Okul is quoted lamenting. For his troubles, coach Kimanzi was fired.
The report states that the management of football has been politicised in Kenya, with ODM and PNU supporting rival camps. According to the report, PNU favours the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) led by Sam Nyamweya, while ODM tilts in favour of the heavily criticized current leadership led by Coast tycoon Mohammed Hatimy.
“They want to be known. They want to market themselves,” Kenya’s soccer legend Joe Kadenge observes of the leadership of the two warring camps.
According to the report, the interest in football is drawn from the fact that in the past, politicians have used soccer as a springboard to politics. Among those who trace their political journey to football include veteran politician Kenneth Matiba and the late Job Omino. Among the current crop of politicians, those with soccer background include Planning minister Wycliffe Oparanya, his assistant Peter Kenneth and Webuye MP Alfred Sambu.
The report quotes Kadenge suggesting that the only way to sort out the rot in Kenya football is to disband the present football administration.
“We should defy Fifa and take control of the federation until clean people are elected to take over. Fifa can suspend us if they so wish,” he argues.
