END TIMES FOR NYAMWEYA? FKF President faces growing revolt within NEC over handling of 16 or 18-team league and court cases

Football Kenya Federation(FKF) led by President Sam Nyamweya, Deputy Robert Asembo, Tom Alila and Simon Mugo leave after meeting Sports Cabinet Secretary Dr. Hassan Wario over premier league clubs wrangles at Kencom House in Nairobi on Monday 16/02/15.PHOTO:BONIFACE OKENDO

Has the beginning of the end of Sam Nyamweya’s reign in Kenyan football begun?

It is a question, no less than members of his own National Executive Committee (NEC) and those close to him are grappling with in the wake of bungled court cases that have swung in favour of Kenyan Premier League Limited, FeverPitch can reveal.

In his slightly over 20-year romance with Kenyan football set up, the latest spurring with KPL and rumbles of disenchantment within his NEC could provide the sternest challenge yet to his chequered reign.

Interviews with several NEC Members reveal a federation in panic mode and one at pains to reconcile with the public that is angry at how they have handled the need to expand the league to 18 teams.

FKF NEC comprise Simon Mugo (Nairobi), Mohamed Omar (Coast) Tom Alila (Nyanza), Doris Petra (Rift Valley), George Wainaina (Central), Elly Mukolwe (Western), Ahmedsiat ‘Mula’ Mohamed (North Eastern), KPL chair and coaches association.

None, however, is strong-willed to challenge the boss - partly because they lack the resources to counter Nyamweya’s wherewithal.

DIRE CONSEQUENCES

So disgruntled, though, are members of his NEC that some have even begun contemplating life after Nyamweya’s exit, but for fear of “dire consequences” they will not speak out openly.

“To be honest to myself, I cannot speak my mind because I don’t know what the other NEC members are thinking. You don’t know what they talk with the President and should you speak out you could find yourself out in the cold,” a NEC member, who did not want to be mentioned for fear of reprisal, said.

Although FKF enjoys backing from football world governing body, Fifa, the confidence and verve with which KPL has taken the battle to them, has left some of the NEC members and branches asking whether his time to leave has come.

FKF lost the case against KPL, not to mention one in the public court, a result of Nyamweya’s strategy and his lone ranger tactics, his disgruntled NEC members say.

“We really feel let down by the President and his deputy.

“They have thrown counsel out of the window because even the decision to go to court was never discussed at the NEC level. We just heard on a Friday morning there were orders restraining KPL from staging matches.

“We have been hopping from one blunder to another yet it has not awakened us to the reality of the day,” another member said.

He added: “We are in a position of strength with Fifa backing, but I am not sure of that now, yet we have hopped from one defeat to another. As a member of NEC, I think it has reached a point that I say let football win not me as a NEC member.”

Fifa has written several letters reminding both FKF and KPL on the hierarchy of its structure including availing a consultant to advise on the suitability of a 16-team or 18-team league.

PARALLEL LEAGUES

“We are not going to allow two leagues in the country. In this situation, the league that we recognise is the one that is mandated to do so by our affiliate and we will at all-time try and protect our members as long as they are doing the right thing.

“However, if there is no solution then we will not hesitate to impose a ban on our member,” Valcke said in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

Valcke also defended Fifa expert report which called for a 16-team league insisting that it was based on their experience elsewhere.

“These recommendations came from our own experience in other parts of the world regarding a lean league and we are concerned that it was not taken into consideration in trying to deal with this crisis in Kenya.”

However, FKF have since trashed the report arguing it ventured into issues outside its brief and thus reading some ulterior motives on the part of the consultant.

Fifa wrote to FKF asking them to find a local solution to their problem after they rejected the report and later wrote to warn they would not condone two parallel leagues and could suspend its member should the situation obtain.

“I think Nyamweya and Asembo have refused to read the mood of the people.

Yes, Fifa does not react to public demands but as people entrusted with the game they should listen to country failure to which they will be swept aside,” a branch official told FeverPitch.

Nyamweya was first elected KFF Secretary General in 1996, a position held for four years. He returned to the federation in 2005 at the height of the wrangles pitting Alfred Sambu and Mohamed Hatimy. He won Fifa-supervised elections in 2011.

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