FKF must take coaches’ contracts seriously

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has fined Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Sh108 million over wrongful termination of former Harambee Stars coach Adel Amrouche’s services. This has raised questions on the kind of contracts sports officials get into.

CAS found that Amrouche was unfairly sacked. When Amrouche was suspended by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) four years ago, it looked like FKF was right in firing him as he was under suspension.

But it turns out that his contract with FKF did not allow for him to be sacked just by virtue of being under suspension. Perhaps, they should not have been in a hurry to fire him.

As things stand, FKF is in a tight spot. First, they do not have that kind of money and they do not have much time either. Secondly, Kenya may be banned from taking part in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers or its development grant withheld by Fifa.

This is not the first time the federation is being fined for mistreatment of coaches, a result of the officials not reading the fine print of the contract documents. Before Amrouche, FKF had been asked to pay former coach Henri Michelle Sh4 million for wrongful termination.

FKF can ill afford to pay these fines and whatever little money they have should be used to develop the sport. While FKF is hoping the government will come to their rescue, they should always be careful with their dealings.