Football Kenya Federation Vice President McDonald Mariga and six National Executive Committee members were expelled during a federation Special General Meeting in Meru last Saturday.
The General Assembly also recommended further disciplinary action against the seven officials at the judicial bodies of the federation, CAF and Fifa.
The ousted NEC members are Kerubo Momanyi, Gabriel Mghendi, Dan Shikanda, Collins Opiyo Kalee, Robert Macharia, and Bernard Lagat.
66 of the 92 FKF delegates attended the meeting where Mariga and the six NEC members faced accusations of violating the FKF Constitution.
They were accused of: purporting to unlawfully remove FKF President Hussein Mohammed, Acting General Secretary Dennis Gicheru and nominated NEC member Abdullahi Yusuf from their positions using the resolutions of the April 24 NEC meeting; purporting to remove Hussein from office without affording him an appearance; and failing to attend NEC meetings, thus frustrating the execution of its mandate.
Police at Three Steers Hotel, Meru, where the FKF Special General Meeting was held on November 7, 2026.
Photo credit: Victor Otieno | Nation
Nairobi-based lawyer Raphael Omalla, says that since the matter is an internal issue within FKF, taking it before CAF or Fifa would be a stretch.
Locally, the lawyer explains that the matter would be handled by FKF’s judicial bodies, with the likely charge the individuals would face being the “ambiguous” offence of bringing the game of football into disrepute.
The sanctions for the offence include a warning, reprimand, fine or a ban from all football-related activities for a specified period, or a life ban.
Omalla said that if FKF were to follow this route, it would take a long time before the matter is dealt with since the federation currently lacks judicial bodies.
He said CAF can only be roped in if the charges were related to its competitions or the individuals were members of its committees.
The lawyer said it was unlikely for Fifa to penalize the seven since it would amount to double punishment as they have already been removed from office.
Football Kenya Federation President Hussein Mohammed (left) and McDonald Mariga.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
“If you were to bring a charge before CAF, what would be the basis of that yet the actions complained about are internal administrative issues within FKF and its National Executive?” posed the advocate. “It would be different if they were members of, let’s say, Afcon, or some CAF Committee or if there were some misappropriation of funds,” he added.
For instance, in 2013, Coast NEC member Hussein Swaleh Hussein aka Hussein Terry was suspended after he allegedly misappropriated funds.
An FKF Annual General Meeting (AGM) held in Kapsabet in 2014 imposed a life ban on him from all football-related activities. However, an FKF AGM held in August 2015, lifted the ban.
Omalla, who has practiced law for eight years, explains that if Mariga and his allies feel aggrieved by the decision taken against them by the SGM, they can appeal with the Sports Disputes Tribunal, provided they demonstrate that they cannot do so within the federation.
Ousted Football Kenya Federation deputy president McDonald Mariga.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
Although Fifa prohibits football-related disputes from being taken to ordinary courts, the lawyer explains that the individuals can still pursue that route because that right has not been taken away from them.
“Fifa has a department for member associations. They can write to that department explaining how they were removed invalidly,” he said, adding that they can also appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.
The High Court in Muranga declined both to suspend the implementation of the SGM and to certify the case by Patrick Kinyua as urgent and instead directed that the case be mentioned on February 25, next year.
