The first reaction from Kenyans to the news of Sepp Blatter’s resignation was that Kenya’s own ‘Blatter’ should follow suit and quit as Football Kenya Federation (FKF) chairman. Just as the world football governing body FIFA needs restructuring, Kenya’s football body also needs an even deeper restructuring.

FKF President Sam Nyamweya has not been spared in this avalanche of corruption allegations facing football official across the world. In a German TV expose, Nyamweya was accused of pocketing over Sh. 48 million in development aid funds from the world governing body, FIFA.

A French football marketing executive who worked with FKF, Jérôme J. Dufourg, produced some documents supporting claims that allegedly implicated Nyamweya in corruption. In a documentary entitled “Soccer for Sale – Sepp Blatter and Allegations of Sleaze at FIFA”, Dufourg stated, “I have documents from November 2011 to April and May 2013 and it’s clearly stating that Sam Nyamweya has stolen more than half a million dollars of funds coming from FIFA through the Financial Assistant Programme, bonuses from CAF assistant programmes and then from Government.”

HARAMBEE STARS FAIL TO SHINE

It has been a long cry by Kenyans to see football in the country prosper but for years very little has been achieved.

The sad thing about Kenya’s football administration is that they hardly manage even the simplest or the most basic of duties like paying the allowances of players and coaches for the national team on time. Just the other day the Harambee Stars players had to train in the dilapidated Hope Center on Wednesday as the main stadiums were ‘unavailable’.

Apart from the independently managed Kenyan Premier League which has been doing fairly well and even managing to attract some sponsors including Supersport, the national team has done very poorly in competitive matches failing to advance further in various tournaments. The general feeling by most Kenyans is that poor management by the main football body in Kenya is the main reason for the demise of Harambee Stars. Politics, corruption and power struggles have been the order of the day neglecting the duties assigned to them to see the development of football in the country.

The next elections for FKF are due in October and football-loving Kenyans are hoping for new leadership in the management of Kenyan football. They want progress and to see Kenya being represented on the big stages of football competition. They want to see Kenya host big football tournaments in the country and they want to see Kenya’s young talent in football being nurtured.