Between 2013 and 2014, Adel Amrouche was a well beloved coach of Harambee Stars.
He had led a resurgence of the national team and we were thinking we could get somewhere. Alas! That was not to be. The former office under the stewardship of Sam Nyamweya renewed the manager’s contract just a few days before he lost the elections.
The new fellows in office came in to find that there was no money in the federation; the coffers were empty and naturally they were in a foul mood.
They shoved aside Monsieur Amrouche without even talking to him. They simply forgot common decency and as FKF Secretary-General and CEO Barry Otieno was quoted recently saying: “We will not respond to the accusations from Amrouche because we never worked with him. We didn’t hire him and neither did we fire him. The federation doesn’t have that kind of money. We have a debt of Sh250 million which we inherited from the former office and have a payment plan. We are still engaging Fifa and the government with a view to finding a solution.”
This shows the arrogance and swollen egos at FKF. They are still engaging Fifa and the government over the matter. Fifa has already warned Kenya of a possible ban over the matter and we still hear the powers that be joking about “engaging”.
The sports minister came out quite clearly when she said: “I do not understand it. It is baffling to expect the government to pay for the irresponsible behaviour of a federation seeking to abdicate its role. This has nothing to do with the government. Why can’t FKF negotiate with Fifa to agree on a payment plan?”
Indeed FKF has been very irresponsible over the matter. Petty egos must now see how to untangle the silly maze they have created. This is something that could have been solved amicably a long time ago. It has dragged until now the money to be paid to the coach has risen to Sh109 million which is a heavy burden.
The simple logic is that when a new team comes into office, it must honour all the burdens and advantages they find within it.
If for example a new president is elected into office and finds that the predecessors had taken a loan from another country, it behoves them to pay that sum. It is in this logic that the Kenya government had to pay the Anglo Leasing debts no matter how unpopular they were.
Barry Otieno cannot say casually say that since they did not hire nor fire Amrouche, they will not respond to him. How now?
Where did this obnoxious man get that idea? Why does he think he can wish the former manager away and just go on as if nothing happened?
The deadline for paying Amrouche was set for last Wednesday and it has passed. We can only wait for a Fifa ban and that shall make Mwendwa and Barry very happy. That is what they want and we know it!