Sh9,000 reward for winning KWPL title laughable

For me, the fact that winners of the Kenya Women’s Premier League went home with a cash prize of Sh350,000 isn’t the worst thing. The most enraging bit is that there is little sign that anyone at the helm of FKF is remotely bothered.

The greatest travesty is that those who should be hanging their heads in shame are the same ones standing in front of cameras, defending the mediocrity. That kind of disrespect still seems tolerable within women’ football circles.

In case you missed it, KWPL winners Thika Queens received Sh350,000 last weekend as cash prize. The runners up received cheap medals for their efforts while the season’ top scorer, Kenya international Mwanahalima Adam, received a pat on the back and warm wishes for the next season.   

When split between 25 players and five officials, the amount leaves each player with a paltry sh9,000 for a season’s reward. 

That aside, to win the league, Thika Queens had been subjected to a play-off tournament involving three other teams, and had to camp in Nakuru for four days to honour the games – at their own expense of course. Despite the costs incurred, the other teams went home empty handed.

The excuse given is the usual one: There is no money. That’s fine, but what about all the monies the federation has received, whether in Fifa grants, corporate sponsorship or gate takings?

In the run up to his second term, FKF president Nick Mwendwa announced a series of sponsorship deals, stopping short of promising that money would be falling off the walls if he won a second term, which he did.

Ignore the fact that each of the title winning players received an amount that is so much less than the Sh30,000 Mwendwa reportedly receives for chairing the National  Executive Council meeting every so often. Also ignore the fact that Kenya was selected for the Fifa Women’s Football Division pilot programme in 2019, for which FKF received Sh60 million meant for women’s development.

Consider that at the start of the league, Mwendwa said publicly that Sh10 million of the sponsorship money from betting company BetKing would be channeled into women’s football.

Consider also the fact that Fifa granted the federation additional monies for Covid-19 relief. This mistreatment of women footballers must be called out.

The political problem, very obviously, is that there is nobody at the federation who is genuinely concerned with the women’s game. The chairman is dismissive. His sycophantic subordinates are hostile. The women put there to represent the interests of their fellow tribe are either unwilling or unable to change the situation.

We must raise wider questions about the inadequacies of some Fifa rules, such as the one where federation heads are not compelled to bind themselves to external auditing.

It is a daunting challenge, especially given that the girls have been subdued into silence. It leaves those outside the league with little alternative but to be the chief voices. We cannot keep quiet any more.

The blatant disrespect and mistreatment will not easily be undone, but it cannot remain untouched.

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