Jitters, Anxiety as FKF Transition Committee’s term expires

Former football administrators Nicholas Musonye and Sam Nyamweya have called for extension of the mandate of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Transition Committee that ended Sunday.

At the same time, FKF branches, led by FKF Nairobi East chairman Amos Otieno, have vowed to officially take over the management of football in the country on Monday.

On June 16, the tenure of the 11-member FKF Transition Committee was extended for two months by Sports CS Amina Mohamed.

The committee is backed by a seven-member secretariat headed by journalist Lindah Oguttu.

Musonye, a former Secretary General of the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association, and former FKF president Nyamweya said the committee should run football activities in the country until Kenya’s next president appoints new office holders at the Ministry of Sports.

“The government must ensure there is no vacuum. The term of the Transition Committee should be extended for a month to allow the next government to set the road map on how our football will be run,” Musonye told Nation Sport.

Nyamweya said: “This is the only viable option. If the term f the committee is not extended then there will be a leadership vacuum.”

CS Amina and Sports Principal Secretary Joe Okudo did not respond to questions about the fate of the Transition Committee.

Last Thursday, Otieno told Nation Sport that FKF branches will move to court should the Transition Committee serve beyond its term.

“The issue here is not about the government of the day because football should not be dragged into politics. We have made plans for the new season and will be in charge from August 15 (Monday). Our new fixtures will also be released in due course,” said Otieno.

The Transition Committee came into office on May 13, replacing the FKF Caretaker Committee, which had been at the helm for six months since CS Amina disbanded the Nick Mwendwa-led federation last November.

This was after an audit report on the accounts of the federation revealed massive financial misappropriation.

Mwendwa was subsequently charged with corruption at the High Court where he is seeking to prove his innocence.

As a result of the government’s intervention in the management of football in the country, Fifa suspended Kenya from its activities.

The Ministry of Sports failed to convince Fifa to lift the suspension, which has taken a heavy toll on Kenya’s football, and many sports enthusiasts are looking up to Kenya’s new political regime to solve the stalemate.

Fifa has demanded for the reinstatement of Mwendwa and his colleagues into office for it to lift the suspension.

Nyamweya said the next regime should engage with Fifa “immediately” to solve the stalemate immediately.

On his part, Musonye said that should new elections be called, football stakeholders should ensure they elect into office those who have football at heart.

“We need to get the right people to run our football. We do not want to kill our football,” he said.

Before leaving office, the Transition Committee last week released fixtures for the 2022/23 FKF Premier League (FKF-PL) and Kenya Women’s Premier League (KWPL).

While the FKF-PL should kick-off on September 10, the start of the KWPL has been set for September 25.

 It also confirmed the promotion of Fortune Sacco and APS Bomet to the FKF-PL, Kibera Girls Soccer, MTG Kilifi and Royal Starlets to KWPL and Mayenje Santos, Dimba Patriots and Kona Rangers to the National Super League.

Last week, the FKF branches led by its Nairobi East chairman Amos Otieno told Nation Sport that they will today officially take over the management of football in the country.

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