The Kenyan government has liquidated the Football Kenya Federation (FKF), the country’s football regulatory organization, due to corruption charges.
Amina Mohamed Kenyan, sports minister announced on Thursday that the football federation had been abolished after investigations found that the football organization had failed to account for funds received from the government and other sponsors.
The minister stated that more investigations would be done to determine the degree to which the country’s football authority abused cash, and that officials found guilty may face prosecution.
Mohamed also announced the formation of a 15-member caretaker committee to oversee the business of the country’s football regulatory body until new elections are conducted in six months.
According to reports, the Kenyan government had in October dived into an extensive investigation into the FKF spending to ascertain if 244 million shillings ($2.2 million) given to the federation was used to prepare the national team for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Egypt.
FKF president, Nick Mwendwa has refused to comply with the ministry of sports instructions after he revealed he will not back down and will not accept the ministry’s decision.
Insisting that despite the disbandment his team will continue in their role.
He said;
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m in charge of the FKF, we will not be accepting such decision from the sports ministry.”
“The FKF reject the (caretaker) committee, and we will carry on with our operations as usual. This means all football activities in the country continue as scheduled and FKF remains in charge,” he added.
“FKF fully complied with the inspection process ordered by the minister, and (provided) detailed and operational documents from the year 2016 to date. But regrettably the inspectors had no serious interest in scrutinising our documents.”
The Harambee Stars held Uganda to a 1-1 draw in a 2022 World Cup qualifier in Kampala on Thursday.
Kenya’s prospects of appearing in the World Cup finals in Qatar are dwindling as a result of two huge losses to group leaders Mali and draws against Uganda and Rwanda.