Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba on Friday re-instated the disbanded Football Kenya Federation’s National Executive Committee and Secretariat in line with Fifa’s demands for the suspension to be lifted.
Kenya has been serving an indefinite suspension from all football activities handed by world governing football body Fifa on February 24 this year for government interference.
Speaking in a joint press conference with members of the FKF NEC led by President Nick Mwendwa, Namwamba said football is too important to be put at risk by selfish interests.
He added that the decision has been arrived as a result of a lot of sacrifices across the board.
“We need our football back while not closing our eyes to integrity, rule of law and good governance. In my meeting with suspended NEC, I have been very candid with them on these issues,” Namwamba said.
“We have come to an understanding which I will refer to in three parts. The government has made a commitment to meet conditions set by Fifa so that the suspension is lifted.”
“FKF will communicate to Fifa regarding the understanding between them and the government on conditions that we have set. They have been put down by FKF and will be conveyed to FIfa shortly,” added Namwamba, who took over from Amina Mohamed last week on Friday.
The agreement between the state and FKF is Mwendwa will stay away from the federation until he clears his name in court.
“Mwendwa has acknowledged that he has a court case that needs to be resolved. In the meantime, the team led by Barry (Otieno) and Doris (Petra) will roll football in the country.”
“We expect that Fifa will respond with speed to the communication which will be released to them after this presser. We will continue to engage Fifa even on other issues,” added Namwamba.
For his part, Mwendwa said: “For a year, we have been in the wilderness. Football has been so bad, we have engaged with the government. The first thing we wanted to do is engage Fifa to have football back. There have been efforts going on in court to resolve something there. That has not happened so we have agreed that I will allow my team continue without my interference. Yes, I am the president but I have allowed the team to continue doing this (running football). I believe in a matter of time the issues will be resolved.”
“When I stepped aside, I did it hoping the government then would allow them continue running football. Today, we have an administration that has done that,” he added.
Barry Otieno, the CEO of the federation thanked Namwamba for the role he has played to ensure the deadlock is unlocked.
“As a federation we have written to Fifa and we will share the agreement with waziri. He has given us a guarantee that he has repealed the November 11 decision and given them access to Kandada House,” Otieno said.
Kenya’s then Sports Cabinet Secretary, Amina Mohamed, on November 11 last year disbanded the Nick Mwendwa-led Football Kenya Federation and installed a Caretaker Committee to, among other things, run football activities in accordance with the federation’s constitution.
Amina appointed Retired Justice Aaron Ringera to lead the caretaker committee, while journalist Lindah Oguttu was installed as the head of the secretariat. The Caretaker Committee mutated into the Transition Committee after its initial six months mandate ended. BY DAILY NATION