When Abubu Namwamba took over as the cabinet secretary for Youth Affairs, Arts, Sports and Culture, a section of Kenyans were skeptical about his ability to run a ministry. And already, embattled Footbal Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa boasts to have pocketed Namwamba.
To Mwendwa, Doris Petra, the person holding his office gets orders from him and is business as usual.
In secret, Mwendwa claims that the CS calls him requesting for handouts to travel upcountry and even funded his recent festive season.
Nick Mwendwa
Mwendwa was arrested in November 2021 after former Sports minister Amina Mohamed disbanded the FKF and set up a caretaker committee to run football over alleged financial impropriety during his tenure.
He was charged with embezzling Sh38 million shillings received from the government and other sponsors as well as conspiracy to defraud the FKF of about $254,000.
Following the ousting of Mwendwa and the disbanding of the FKF, Kenya was suspended by football’s world governing body Fifa in February 2022 over government interference in the running of the sport.
Kenya was excluded from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers which kicked off in June and cannot host or play in any international matches under the Fifa ban.
Recently, Namwamba hinted at suspended Mwendwa possibly returning to his seat in future saying that he opted not to bring back the besieged official when he reinstated the disbanded FKF executive earlier this month owing to the fact that he has a pending court case.
He however alluded to Mwendwa making a comeback should the court acquit him of the said offences.
What is emerging is that Namwamba has failed in dealing with key issues particularly affecting the Sports ministry.
Namwamba while appearing before the national assembly’s committee on appointments during his vetting pledged to deal with the rot at the Sports ministry, which he observed has denied the sporting sector the opportunity to grow, while at the same time acknowledging that some rogue agents had run down the ministry.
Namwamba said several scandals in the ministry have tainted its name beyond regional borders.
While taking over, the CS vowed to transform sports and restore order to Kenyan football pledging to work with all stakeholders in solving the immediate problems.
CS Amina Mohamed handing over to new sports CS Ababu Namwamba
It is no secret that Kenyan football is on a deathbed. All leagues hang in balance with low morale among players. The national executive council of the federation was disbanded through a ministerial action. Both the High Court and the Sports Dispute Tribunal affirmed the legality of this action. Therefore FKF is running an illegal league which has no standing in law. Fear is, teams are spending money on an illegal league. Namwamba is least bothered that Kenyan football is in ICU. Instead of the CS attending to the core issues in the game, he is busy globetrotting and priding in selfies with the head of Fifa.
Last December, Namwamba cautioned employees at the ministry that he will not be approving any unnecessary retreats or foreign trips as he looks to put in austerity measures and ensure they maximise on the limited budgetary allocation they have.
Namwamba disclosed that he has already had to turn down requests for retreats and foreign trips in the one month he has been at the helm at the ministry.
However, the CS is hardly in the country. Word has it that Namwamba is too keen on handouts that he cannot hold the FKF management to account. FKF is currently under Barry Otieno who is a surrogate of Mwendwa.
Mwendwa and Otieno were in court over corruption allegations.
The inspection by the committee formed by former CS Amina Abdalla established that FKF officials flouted national laws and regulations guiding management of sports organisations, public funds, hiring and firing employees.
The federation could not account for more than Sh513 million advanced to it by the government. There were neither cashbooks nor payment vouchers in regard to grants from the ministry of Sports for funds the federation received between 2017 and 2021.
There was a questionable withdrawals amounting to Sh29 million. The reports also showed transfers to Mwendwa’s private accounts amounting to Sh8.5 million. It was also revealed that FKF incurred expenditures for breach of contracts resulting from unprocedural hiring and firing of coaches and other staff. There were no employment guidelines.
Barry Otieno and Nick Mwendwa
In recommending the establishment of a caretaker committee to run football for six months, the inspection team said the federation is reluctant to follow the constitution, especially on matters related to management of public funds.
Mwendwa sensing that he cannot run for an election due to his criminal charges has decided to front Otieno. In preparation for the delegates for the upcoming elections, Otieno has organised leagues with teams from Nyanza some with questionable credentials.
Otieno misled Namwamba that he could reinstate the Nec through a letter to Fifa. Namwamba as a lawyer should have known that only a general assembly has the power to elect a new Nec.
The former FKF Nec members continue to abet illegalities that have completely thrown the game of football into disrepute.
The latest is their rush to the courts in complete violation of both the Fifa statutes and the FKF constitution that prohibits taking football matters to local courts.
In an attempt to continue hanging around, they have gone a notch higher by misrepresenting facts to the judicial division of the High Court.
They claim through an affidavit signed by Otieno that the Sports Disputes Tribunal in their ruling rendered on December 8 2021 disbanded the FKF Nec, a blatant misrepresentation out of which they erroneously managed to get a stay at the High Court.
The truth of the matter is that the Nec was disbanded in November 2021. They then rushed to the High Court to challenge the action and lost the case when the High Court validated the action taken by the CS.
Recently, FKF spent Sh8 million on a physical endurance test course. This raised eyebrows as it was claimed that this money was channeled to the minister’s conduits.
Fifa is due to release Sh800 million to FKF and word has it that Namwamba has positioned himself to reap big as Otieno openly boasts that he has the CS in his pocket.
The SDT ruling emphasised that position meaning that at the moment any move by the disbanded members of the former FKF Nec are all illegal.
The issue of the legality of the 2021/2022 league season, especially the issue of the promotion and relegation of teams that participated in the leagues are now part of the ongoing court battles.
The CS’s brother Tom Namwamba has also been caught up in the mix.
