The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has been facing several integrity questions, and the government is seeking Fifa’s permission to deal with the issues without causing interference that would lead to another suspension.
Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba shared a dossier on the integrity issues with a Fifa delegation during their visit in January, but they are still waiting for an official response from Fifa.
“We shared with him (Gelson Fernandes) a dossier on the serious integrity questions that have risen around football and we sort the consent of Fifa for government to start dealing with those issue in a manner that Fifa will not consider to be interference that would lead to another suspension,” said Namwamba.
“We are still waiting for official communication from Fifa on how to deal with the issues detailed in the dossier. I want to confirm to this committee that a lot of issues that have been raised by the petitioner are issues already included in the dossier.”
Namwamba appeared before the committee chaired by Senator Julius Murgor interrogating a petition titled “Linda Soka Tapping Into the Sh302 Billion Football Economy” by UK-based football coach James Gakonga.
The FKF has been accused of corruption and abuse of office by UK-based football coach James Gakonga, who has petitioned for the FKF to be disbanded and a new governing body established.
However, the court dismissed a Sh38 million theft case against Nick Mwendwa, the FKF president, on March 29, effectively clearing the path for him to resume his duties at Kandanda House.
Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed disbanded the federation in November 2021 after an audit reported misappropriation of funds and abuse of office.
Amina replaced the federation with the FKF Caretaker Committee, while Mwendwa was later arrested and charged with four counts of theft amounting to Sh38 million.
Fifa lifted Kenya’s suspension on November 28 last year after Namwamba reinstated FKF’s NEC.
However, the government is cautious about interfering in football matters to avoid another suspension, and they are awaiting Fifa’s response before taking any action.
Meanwhile, the government has asked the Auditor General Nancy Gathungu to audit several programmes, projects, and federations, including FKF.
Namwamba said they would take action based on the audit findings, but he did not specify what action they would take.
