Pay Stars players their allowances

For how long will Kenyans watch their national team being mishandled by the very same people supposed to support it?

Harambee Stars players have threatened to go on strike and abandon the rest of their Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup matches currently taking place in Ethiopia.

They have threatened to return home. The players say they have not been paid their allowances even though the Government says it has remitted Sh3.5 million to the Football Kenya Federation to meet the team’s travel costs, upkeep and allowances.

This has left the team despondent and it was no surprise that Harambee Stars lost the last Group B match — a 1-3 drubbing by Zanzibar Heroes — nearly handing them elimination from the competition.

 This state of affairs coming hot on the heels of another debacle that had Harambee Stars travelling for over 18 hours without food to Cape Verde and arriving a couple of hours before their World Cup qualifying match against the host team kicked off. Not surprising again, they lost 2-0.

Just how is it that competitions scheduled many months in advance are almost not honoured because of delayed remittance of payments to players or travel agencies? The money in question is taxpayers’ money and hard questions must be asked and responsibility properly apportioned.

The FKF has demonstrated for the umpteenth time that it either lacks competence or commitment to manage the game efficiently.

Some of its officials were among those President Uhuru Kenyatta said should face investigations after adverse mentions by the EACC on account of graft. Next month, the federation will be holding elections. These elections should give Kenyans an opportunity to clean up the game.