Sam Nyamweya – Same faces, same old ball game?

The Kenya Football Federation (KFF) and Football Kenya Limited (FKL) unanimously gave way to the newly formed Kenya Football Association (KFA) in a move to bring unity in the sport and take Kenyan football forward to new heights. At the helm of the new football body is none other than Sam Nyamweya, who swept aside stiff competition from the youthful Hussein Mohammed (considered by Kenya’s footballing public as the knight in shining armour who rode on the desire for change – The Standard Oct 30, 2011) to become the head of the KFA.

Sam Nyamweya is a former secretary and chairman of the KFF which has been ravaged by internal wrangles and poor finances. This led to a split where FKL was formed. KFF led by Sam Nyamweya was supported by the Government while FKL, which was under the leadership of Mohammed Hatimy, was supported by FIFA.

With the formation of the KFA Kenya now has one new all-encompassing body in charge of football. A new governing body yes, but most of the faces that were part the previous administrations are still there in KFA which begs the question of whether real change will be seen in the management of football, or is it just the same old story with a new title?

The Forum recognises that it was a free and fair election and the winners deserved the victory and that this is a step in the right direction. We now await and hope to see effective and positive changes that will improve football in Kenya.

Kenya can host the 2019 African Cup of Nations… and the World Cup?

Kenya is planning to bid for the 2019 African Cup of Nations which we almost did 15 years ago in 1996 but lost due to a failure to put in place proper infrastructure and a commitment to work with the federation.

Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, believes Kenya is capable of hosting not only the African Cup of Nations but the World Cup too. In an interview with the BBC, Raila said that the Government is conducting a study on the areas that need to be improved before launching the bid to host the competition.

The Kenya Forum thinks that indeed Kenya is capable of hosting such a high profile competition but needs to invest more in football in terms of infrastructure, security and management of football in the country. Kenya has a better economy and infrastructure than most of the African countries that have previously hosted the African Cup of Nations so it’s just a matter of getting our act together.