Kenya’s Sports, Culture and Heritage Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohamed Tuesday warned against the return of ousted FKF President Nick Mwendwa at the federation’s headquarters (Goal Project) in Kasarani.
The premises had been kept inaccessible to FKF staff and football stakeholders since November 11, 2021, following a directive by the CS who disbanded the Federation’s National Executive Committee.
Flanked by Deputy President Doris Petra and General Secretary/CEO Barry Otieno, the FKF President oversaw the reopening of FKF main offices at Kandanda House on Tuesday after 10 months of closure.
Mwemdwa affirmed the Federation’s commitment to ensuring that the suspension imposed on FKF by World Governing body FIFA following the CS’ directive was lifted.
“Our objective today was to assess the situation here (Kandanda House) and inform FIFA that our offices and communication channels are once again in our full and unconditional control,” said the FKF President.
“We have had engagements with the newly sworn-in government which has shown commitment towards Kenyan football’s return to normalcy. In the coming days, we shall have consultations with clubs and other football stakeholders to map out a detailed roadmap for the resumption of our leagues and national team activities,” he added.
However, CS Amina termed the move as a break-in by the indicted FKF top officials.
“My attention has been drawn to a break-in at FKF offices at Kasarani. The information is that the break-in was led by the indicted FKF officials, who were legally removed following an inspection by the Office of the Sports Registrar,” CS Amina said in a statement sent to newsrooms.
“The decision by the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage on November 11, 2021 has been upheld by the rulling of the High Court of Kenya on May 10, 2022.” She added.
At paragraph 111 of the High Court rulling on petition number E473 of 2021, Judge H.I Ong’udi ruled;
“After all the above deliberations, I find that save for the issue of the petitioners not being served with the report/recommendations for their reaction and which has been well explained, I find that the respondents (Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage) acted within their mandate under the Sports Act to save FKF. As a result, I find the petition lacking merit and I decline to grant the declarations sought.”
The Sports CS further added that; ” It is instructive to note that this decision rendered on May 10, 2022 has not been vacated/reversed and the FKF Transition Committee remains in office and in charge of football management in Kenya.”
According to the Sports Registrar’s Inspection Report dated November 5, 2021 and which the FKF Transition Committee is addressing, the reasons the FKF NEC was removed from office are;
The legal status of FKF which is incompatible with the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Sports Act 2013 and Sports Registrar’s Regulations 2016.
Misappropriation of funds advanced to FKF by the government, FIFA, CAF, Multichoice, Odibets, AFCON, Safaricom among others are also reasons FKF NEC was disbanded by the Sports Cabinet Ambassador Amina Mohamed in November 2021.
Non – submission of Annual Audit Reports to the Sports Registrar and non – adherence to Sports Act and any other relevant law among a number of notable reasons also led to FKF being disbanded.
