The independence of Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Electoral Board, governance, sponsorships, match fixing and players’ welfare dominated the heated historic FKF presidential debate as candidates outlined their policies and solutions for the struggling game.

With less than five days to the County polls, that will be followed by the delayed national elections on December 7, six candidates engaged in a war of words on a joint debate that was organised by the Editors Guild and televised on Standard Group’s KTN Home, KBC, NTV and K24 on Monday night at College of Insurance, in South C, Nairobi.

Save for FKF deputy president Doris Petra and former NEC member Chris Amimo, the rest of the candidates including Extreme Sports CEO Hussein Mohammed, Kakamega Homeboyz owner Cleophas Shimanyula, former FKF CEO Barry Otieno, Gor Mahia Secretary General Sam Ochola and former FKF NEC member Tom Alila graced the debate.

While all the members agreed on poor governance and integrity to be the main issues bedeviling Kenyan football, it was Barry Otieno and Hussein Mohammed’s exchanges that spiced up the debate with their counter accusations.

Hussein appeared to be saddened with how the federation, which Barry served as a CEO before he resigned a few months ago to contest, frustrated the growth of grassroots football hence questioning the integrity of the immediate former regime to run the game and fight the match fixing menace.

“What is important right now is to ask ourselves, when did this rain start beating us? Why did the sponsors take flight? Why did they run away? What happened to SuperSport and SportPesa? What happened to all the big corporates that used to participate in the development of football in this country?” asked Hussein.

“They all ran away because of the mediocrity, ineptitude and corruption in the game. It is important for us to set the record straight that hundreds of thousands of young people suffered out of the intimidation and blackmail that was caused by the federation in trying to kill grassroots football, and that is a fact.

“If we have no integrity within the federation, then there’s no way you can expect them to do anything about match fixing. I think it is rampant. So, when you talk of integrity, you have to be able to stand up on your two feet and say I have no allegations against me. We need to take care of the referees’ welfare.”

Integrity 

Otieno dared Hussein to table the evidence on the cancellation of sponsorship contracts as he challenged him to first take the log out of his own eye.

Otieno further came clean on allegations that he was handed a six-month suspension by CAF after he tampered with PCR results (Covid-19 Test results) before Kenya’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros in 2021.

“I have been accused of not being a person of high standing in terms of integrity by someone who I also believe shoots on this side and stays on this side. You can do a background check on me and do a background check on him (Hussein). We have been accused of leading to the termination of the SportPesa deal, and it is not true. Are there documents to support those claims?” queried Otieno.

“In 2021 CAF introduced a Covid protocol mechanism. There were national team players that were there, I never tore any Covid results. The issue is that we were playing away in Comoros, they got one hospital and one bank; by regulation if a player was found to be positive on Covid, you needed to be given an alternative hospital to test these players. That’s what I asked for and the officials were not happy. I never tore any paper.”

Kempes and Alila delved into the integrity and governance issues, claiming they are some of the reasons the game is on its deathbed.

“The issue of integrity is clearly a big problem. I think if you look at our football right now, there’s no denying that there’s a lack of credibility in all the issues that we have talked about. It’s hard for anybody to deny that these problems are there. All this comes down to the issue of leadership,” said the former Harambee Stars midfielder.

“Money is our other biggest issue, and I think it’s obvious to me that there’s a trust and integrity deficit at the federation, and that impacts in terms of how people trust us to give us money. We don’t have a brand that can attract sponsors.”

Alila, who is contesting under protest, said: “The problem with football in Kenya is governance; there’s no rocket science about it; it’s an administrative issue that needs to be fixed. We need to fix the FKF constitution because it is not intertwined with the Sports Act. Kenya doesn’t lack talent; it is purely a governance issue that needs to be fixed.”

Apart from Barry Otieno, Shimanyula, Ochola and all the other candidates questioned the independence of the Kandanda House-based Electoral Board after they barred some candidates ahead of Saturday’s polls.

“Some members have been barred from contesting, that is not fair at all and it is going to tarnish the name of the Board. Let them be fair and transparent, and clear all the contestants; let people go out and hunt for votes in a genuine way. We urge the Sports CS (Kipchumba Murkomen) to look for an alternative venue to host the Board,” said Shimanyula whose club, Kakamega Homeboyz, was accused of match fixing. 

“As long as they are sitting and conducting all their businesses from Kandanda House, there is a big problem. They need to be independent, and they need to move out of that place. Secondly, the Complaints Committee wasn’t constituted at the SGM, going to the same Board to complain about members being locked out is not the way to go. There is a normality in that,” said Ochola.