DNK International By James Simiyu Mwami
With just a year before Kenya jointly with East African neighbours Uganda and Tanzania host the Africa Cup of Nations, all seems not to be so rosy at the Kandanda House, the headquarters of the Football Kenya Federation.
It is just over one year since the current federation leadership led by Mohamed Hussein took over the control of the country’s football with a promise to turn around the sport in the country.
With their slogan “Fresh Start” Hussein had the full backing of the government and went round the country promising to clean the house, attract sponsorship from the corporate world and give Kenyans a reason to fall in love with the game again.
How we trusted him. How we were hoodwinked. How we feel cheated. There was nothing like a fresh start but a continuation of what he inherited from his predecessor Nick Mwendwa.
His leadership has increasingly devolved into PR theatrics and sideshows, with little substance to show for it, a tell-tale sign of a leadership project that never truly took off.
Today, we are reading of reports that the President of the federation has hatched a plan to kick out the Chief Executive Officer Harold Ndege on flimsy grounds yet the main reason is CEO has blocked pilferage of monies from world soccer governing body FIFA to develop the game.
It is sad that the federation boss has created a parallel centre of power at Kandanda House with total disregard to the laws governing the federation and the roles of the officials he was elected alongside at the National Executive Council.
It is quite unfortunate that while all this is happening, the Ministry of Sports has maintained a studious silence.
Curiously, over the past decade, the two offices that have managed the federation have received full government backing yet this period remain to be the worst in Kenyan football.
When Nick Mwendwa was campaigning for the federation presidency, just like Hussein Mohamed, there was support from individuals in government and by extension goodwill from the corporate sector, however, the two leaderships betrayed all the support they had from these sectors.
The same cannot be said of the previous regime before Mwendwa and Hussein led by Sam Nyamweya which not only did not get government support but was also maligned by a section of the corporate world and the public yet that was the period football management enjoyed stability and growth especially the Kenyan Premier League, the flagship product of Kenyan football.
Under Nick Mwendwa, Kenya was banned from international football, under Hussein, we are seeing camps emerging which is not good for football development.
It is a shame that when countries politically and financially unstable like Sudan, Mali, Guinea, DRC are parading at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Kenya is sitting out as a spectator,all because of the egoism at the FKF perpetuated by its leadership.
Is it not time we had a relook at our football administration?
The author is a football fanatic and a former Bungoma Youth player
[DNK-International@January 7,2026]
