The Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage, as widely expected, nay long anticipated, has finally cracked the whip against the Football Kenya Federation leadership.

In a media communique delivered by Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed last Thursday, the FKF leadership has been sidestepped as the recognized football administration body in Kenya with the Government appointing a caretaker team to run football affairs.

This comes at a time when some of the national teams are currently undertaking continental qualification duties.

The action by the Cabinet Secretary will possibly lead to Kenya’s ban as a recognized member of the global football space governed by FIFA. However, many Kenyans appear to favour this outcome to restore our long lost football administration glory.

But who is FKF anyway and why do they enjoy the massive powers? Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is the governing body that runs and manages football in Kenya and is an organization of an associative nature registered in Kenya in compliance with the Sports Act No. 25 of 2013. It was founded as Kenya Football Federation (KFF) in 1960; affiliated to FIFA in 1960; affiliated to the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) in 1961, and affiliated to CECAFA in 1973.

Other than regulating the game, the FKF aims to promote and develop the game countrywide. The Federation is led by an elected President, Nick Mwendwa, Deputy President Doris Petra, and National Executive Committee members (NEC) derived from 8 regions. The Federation’s day-to-day operations are led by a General Secretary/CEO, Barry Otieno, and a management team.

The operations of FKF are currently guided by its new national constitution that was enacted in 2017. This was after the enactment of the National Constitution of Kenya 2010 that introduced a devolved governance system. Many administrative structures were changed to reflect this new dispensation in the General Assembly of the Football Kenya Federation of 2015. Members resolved to review the Football Kenya Federation constitution to reflect this new dispensation and align any other wanting clauses in the constitution to meet the unique needs in administering football in Kenya in line with CAF and FIFA requirements.

 The objectives of Football Kenya Federation are:

1. To improve the game of football constantly and promote, regulate and control it throughout the territory of Kenya in the spirit of fair play and its unifying educational, cultural and humanitarian values, particularly through youth development programmes;
2. To organise competitions in Association Football in all its forms at national level, by defining precisely as required, the areas of authority conceded to the various Leagues of which it is composed;
3. To draw up regulations and provisions and ensure their enforcement;
4. To protect the interests of its Members;
5. To respect, and prevent any infringement of, the Constitution, regulations, directives and decisions of FIFA, CAF CECAFA and of FKF as well as the Laws of the Game and to ensure that these are also respected by its Members
6. To promote integrity, ethics and fair play with a view to preventing all methods or practices such as corruption, doping or match manipulation, which might jeopardise the integrity of matches, competitions, Players, Officials and Members or give rise to the abuse of Association Football, futsal or beach soccer;
7. To foster friendly relations among the Members, Officials and Players of all football leagues and clubs by encouraging and promoting football matches at all amateur and non-amateur levels and in other ways considered appropriate;
8. To control football in Kenya by taking such steps as shall be necessary to prevent infringement of the Statutes, Regulations and Standing Orders of FIFA, CAF, FKF and of the Laws of the Game;
9. To prevent racial, religious, tribal, political or any other reason of discrimination or distinction among players regardless of their status; among other objectives.