Pressure continues to mount on Football Kenya Federation boss Nick Mwendwa after the Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed asked the registrar of sprst to conduct a two-week audit of the Federation books.
There have been claims of misappropriation of funds on the Federation’s side, and the latest failings of the national team Harambee Stars have further fuelled pressure on the Federation boss.
CS Amina in a statement on Friday night asked the Registrar to conduct an inspection on the Federation starting Monday October 18 and send back a report by November 2.
“Pursuant to Section 52(1) of the Sports Act (2013), I have directed the Registrar of Sports to undertake the inspection of Football Kenya Federation in accordance to the provisions of the Act.”
“She is expected to commence the exercise from 18th October, 2021 for a period of less than two weeks and submit a report to my office on or before November 2 2021. The Ministry will assign the required Technical Officers and any other support required to perform this exercise.”
Section 52 of the Sports Act states: “The Registrar may, at any time, or if so directed by the Cabinet Secretary, cause an inspection to be made by any person authorized by the Registrar, in writing, of any sports organization, branch, sub-branch, organ, or any person associated with any sports organization, and of its or his books, accounts and records.”
Pressure has been mounting on the Federation and its boss since Kenya’s loss at the hands of Mali in the World Cup qualifiers. Harambee Stars lost 6-0 on aggregate to the West Africans and it was the 5-0 thrashing in Agadir that riled Kenyans.
FKF boss Nick Mwendwa and Harambee Stars coach Engin Firat
Specifically of concern is the hiring of a coach with no proven winning record on a two-month contract and the decisions he made on his fielding.
After that, Mwendwa went on a televised interview on NTV and in his defense as to why Kenya was thrashed by the Malians, said that the country lacked talent.
This statement riled up Kenyans with among others former Kenyan international MacDonald Mariga coming out and asking the Federation boss to resign over his comments.
It went from bad to worse for Mwendwa on Thursday when the High Court sitting in Nairobi threw out his petition seeking to have the Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Director of Public Prosecutions against investigating him over alleged misappropriation of funds.
In October last year, Mwendwa had sought to gag the DPP and DCI from investigating him over a complaint to the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit (BFIU) on direct transfer of millions of shillings from the federation to his personal accounts.
Mwendwa, through his lawyer Tom Ojienda had sued DCI and the DPP alongside journalist Milton Nyakundi, who had filed the complaint with the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit.
In his ruling on Thursday, High Court Judge Justice James Makau dismissed Mwendwa’s case saying it lacked merit, was premature and speculative.
“I therefore find the petitioners’ prayer for an order of a permanent injunction prohibiting the DCI and DPP summoning, investigating, charging or prosecuting the petitioners with respect to financial management of FKF is not justified in the circumstances of this case. The instant petition is premature and purely speculative,” Justice Makau’s judgement read.
Mwendwa had argued that the summons by the DCI amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution and that the procedure to summon him for statement recording had contravened the Fair Administrative Action.
Among other cases that hang on the Federation President’s Head include a payment of Sh11mn from the Federation coffers to his own account that were not accounted for, as flagged down by the Auditor General.
Also in question has been the use of funds intended to assist Harambee Stars prepare for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Stars were given over SH200mn by the government to prepare and compete in Egypt, including a three-week training camp in France.
There have also been questions raised over alleged movement of funds from the Federation accounts to Mwednwa’s personal accounts.
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