Despite Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya’s directive to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president, Hussein Mohammed and a section of FKF’s National Executive Committee (NEC) membership to resolve key issues standing in the way of the local league’s kick-off, the stalemate still persists.
Hussein and some of his NEC members are locked in a bitter dispute over the management of the local league, and questions have also arisen about the federation’s budget. These two issues are threatening to further delay the start of the 2026/27 season.
A planned meeting between Hussein and FKF’s NEC members at a city hotel yesterday was called off at the last minute after seven NEC members failed to attend.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya at a past event.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Hussein arrived at the venue of the meeting but the NEC members failed to turn up, further deepening the crisis that has delayed the start of the new football season.
In a meeting with the chief executive officers of the league clubs on Wednesday at the Sports ministry, Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya called for sobriety and urged all parties to put aside their differences and focus on the start of the league.
Hussein attended the meeting in which representatives of the FKF Premier League clubs aired their frustrations over the delayed start of the new season, and ongoing legal battles with regard to relegation and promotion of teams.
“When we met the Sports Cabinet Secretary, it became clear that the issues causing the current stalemate stem from a falling-out in a pre-election pact between (Central NEC member) Robert Macharia and Hussein Mohamed and we told them to sort out their issues,” Mathare United’s CEO Jecton Obure who attended Wednesday’s meeting told Nation Sports.
Although the meeting was meant for club CEOs, Macharia attended as an official of Murang’a Seal.
“Regarding the 2025 rules (on relegation and promotion of teams) which have made Kariobangi Sharks go to court, it is true that the rules were sent to clubs a week later after the league had kicked off. The federation released the standings table every week but they (Kariobangi Sharks) never complained about the rules. Mathare United were in the danger zone, but we worked hard and survived. I think Kariobamgi Sharks are just derailing football. The quota of foreign players that local league teams are allowed to sign was set at seven last season according to the 2025 rules governing Kenyan football,” Obure added.
Kariobangi Sharks has sued FKF to challenge their relegation from last season’s FKF Premier League after finishing 16th. The club wants the 2019 rules governing Kenyan football to be applied, which would allow them to play in the relegation/promotion play-off against Mombasa United. Mombasa United finished third in the National Super League last season.
Asked why he did not attend FKF NEC meeting yesterday, FKF NEC member for Nyanza, Collins Kalee, said FKF’s proposed Sh3.5 billion budget is shrouded in secrecy and that he could not attend a meeting to approve it.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Hussein Mohammed arrives at Serena Hotel, Nairobi to address a press conference May 26, 2026.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
“The core of the game is at the grassroots, yet the budget gives KFF’s 48 branches Sh14 million and puts Sh234 million in marketing. What can Sh300,000 do to a county branch which has teams competing in the lower leagues,” Kalee posed.
“Why is more than Sh70 million being set aside for training coaches yet they often meet the cost of printing certificates during such training sessions? I can’t attend a meeting to rubber-stamp things that I don’t agree with in the budget,” added Kalee.
Mr Macharia, Woman Representative Kerubo Momanyi, FKF Vice-President McDonald Mariga, Gabriel Mgendi (Coast), Dan Shikanda (Nairobi) and Bernard Lagat (North Rift) missed the NEC meeting.
“The law says that the Finance Chair Committee Luthers Mokua is the one to present the budget, yet Hussein wants to present it himself and wants us to participate in a meeting to chase Mokua,” said Kalee.
“How can we also sit in a meeting with FKF Secretary Dennis Gicheru whose term ended on August 6? He has locked all of us out of the Chapa Dimba tournament and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for AFCON 2027,” he added.
Mr Kalee said the seven aggrieved NEC members were not opposed to the start of the new season, arguing that the courts had ruled that the league could proceed.
“We are being seen as opposed to the new season kick off but the truth is that the problem is the federation which wants things done their own way and not according to the law,” he said.
Speaking to the Nation before the meeting, Mr Mohamed said the new season would start soon and assured football stakeholders that the current standoff would be resolved.
