By GILBERT WANDERA

For the last ten years, the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) has been one of the most active regional associations on the continent.

Early 2010, the regional body was given a special recognition by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for its achievements.

At the helm of Cecafa is Kenyan Nicholas Musonye and despite steering the regional body to success the same has not been seen in his home country, as wrangles are the order of the day in the football administration.

Musonye believes local football is not doing well due to lack of structures, discipline and proper management, a malaise that has gripped local football for many years.

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Cecafa secretary general Nicholas Musonye [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

"When I took over at Cecafa, it was the same story. Members were not honouring obligations, there were no sponsors and general discipline was lacking, but when we put in structures things changed for the better," he said in an interview with Feverpitch on Tuesday.

Ten years later, Cecafa has not failed to host any of its tournaments with sponsors from different countries always willing to support.

Musonye says the disease of mismanagement has not affected Kenya only, but majority of football associations in the region.

"Being in Cecafa, my major priority is to have a strong association in Kenya because it is the headquarters of the regional association," he said.

Musonye wants to see more Government involvement in running football, saying without its support, it is impossible to develop the sport.

He said the Government provides the infrastructure to run the sport and they cannot be ignored saying no country’s football has ever developed without state support.

"Running our activities as Cecafa, we have had a lot of support from different governments in the region. This is what has led to our success," he says.

Musonye has also called on football clubs in the country to lock out non-progressive officials in the coming elections. He says it is time clubs used the electoral process to bring on board officials, who have something to offer in terms of making the sport better than they found it.

Musonye dismisses suggestions that he is interested in running for office in local football elections.

"Whenever I give my advice on what should be done to restore football sanity in the country, some people have taken it that I am interested in running for office. I don’t want to do that. My plate at Cecafa is full," he says.

He also says the Government should play a bigger role by locking out certain officials from assuming office on the basis of their past records once elections are held.