Aggrieved Kenya drops Cecafa host bid

By Gilbert Wandera

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have dropped their bid to host the Senior Challenge Cup.

The federation said in a statement on Friday they are willing to let Uganda go on and host this year’s event but will bid for the 2013 tournament.

According to FKF Secretary General Lodvick Aduda, they have made the decision in the spirit of sportsmanship and in view of a special request made by the Uganda FA.

“We have never had issues with Uganda and in this regard, we will no longer pursue the matter,” he said.

Aduda also took issue with the Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) over what he termed as ‘unfair’ treatment of Kenya over the matter.

He claimed that a letter from sponsors East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) stating that they do not dictate who hosts the tournament was never tabled during an executive meeting of the association held early this week.

“The inability to table this important letter meant that most of the executive members remained in the dark over the matter to be discussed. In the end the meeting ended up being a Public Relations Exercise that did not serve any purpose,” said Aduda.

The statement by FKF ends the dispute between the local federation and Cecafa that had threatened one of the oldest tournaments on the continent.

FKF had taken issue with Cecafa for taking away their right to host the tournament after its congress had confirmed them as hosts last year.

But Cecafa shot back and claimed that sponsors EABL had requested that the tournament be moved to Uganda, a statement that was disowned by the brewers who said they do not dictate where the tournament should be held.