Why Mariga buck stops right here at home

By Mutwiri Mutuota

While Kenyans turned instant anger against the British Home Office for failing to grant homeboy McDonald Mariga a work permit to play in the Premier League, more anger may be vented against wrangling football authorities when the abortive transfer embarrassment fades out.

Kenyans will be hoping the Mariga debacle could be what will sound a wakeup call to prompt drastic action by the Government to resolve soccer wrangles.

The feeling among Kenyan soccer fans right now could have been similar to frustrations that have prompted some African governments to crack the whip and straighten out their soccer mess for long-term good.

The wrangling in Kenya, mainly between Kenya Football Federation (KFF) and Football Kenya Limited (FKL) is blamed for the morass that has ran Kenyan football to the ground.

Museveni’s action

At the height of Uganda’s football wrangling in 2005, President Yoweri Museveni directed his Sports Minister, Namirembe Bitamazire, to suspend the country’s federation Fufa in a move that invited a Fifa ban.

Undeterred, the Museveni administration went ahead to haul David Obua (then Fufa president) and Haruna Mawanda (secretary general) to Luzira Prison for a fortnight, besides freezing the federation’s accounts. Needless to say, Obua was forced out of Fufa. In the long run Uganda were re-admitted and football in Kenya’s neighbour is ran peacefully. The late Liberian despot, Samuel Doe once flogged errant football officials in public after defeat while Ivory Coast military ruler sent the entire Elephants team and officials to a military boot camp in 2000 when they crashed out of the Nations Cup early.

Tanzania was more diplomatic but tamed wild soccer officials. The country explained its case to Fifa and the Government was allowed to intervene to sort out soccer wrangles.

In Kenya, FKL and KFF are each known to gravitate towards different political camps.

Football stakeholders say it is difficult to end the wrangles in such a scenario, short of invoking Executive authority, like Museveni did, risk a Fifa ban but hope for readmission once things are resolved through home justice.

FKL’s Mohammed Hatimy, Erastus Okul and Titus Kasuve with their opposite numbers in KFF, Sam Nyamweya, Twaha Mubarak and Omondi Aduda have expended brutal energies in off-pitch battles for supremacy rather than development of the sport.

The KFF faction is currently awaiting an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland challenging Fifa’s recognition of FKL.

No local football officials can be credited with providing an atmosphere conducive for Mariga’s development, instead their cantankerous management contributed heavily to his shattered dream.

"As long as these wrangles continue the national team and our local league will continue to suffer. Something must be done whatever the consequences to save careers of thousands of boys now held hostage by greedy officials," said a former football manager yesterday.

Distraught

Speaking on phone to a local television station, a distraught Mariga, conscious that his one golden chance may have slipped away from his grasp painfully said, "They (Home Office) kept on asking so many questions about our national team. Everything else was in order but they needed our national team to be among the top nations."

According to English laws, a player can only be registered to play in the UK top league if his country is ranked 70 and below by Fifa. Kenya’s latest position in the ratings was 98. In December 2008, Kenya was ranked 68th with Francis Kimanzi then in-charge. However, after falling out with FKL top brass over taking Harambee Stars to a hastily organized friendly in Cairo, Kimanzi was shunted and a nondescript German coach, Antoine Hey hired.

Hey led a disastrous seven-month spell where Stars crashed out of 2010 South Africa and Angola tournaments and slid out of top 100 nations, a factor that cost Mariga his Manchester City chance.