FIFA Congress votes to ratify Kenya’s suspension

• Kenya was suspended last month due to government interference
• This was after Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed disbanded the Federation
• The CS has said they will now bow to pressure from FIFA

The FIFA Council has on Thursday unanimously voted to ratify Kenya and Zimbabwe’s suspension by world football governing body FIFA.

Kenya and Zimbabwe’s suspension was one of the agenda items at the FIFA Congress held in Doha on Thursday, presided over by president Gianni Infantino. 198 members of the Council voted to have the suspension ratified with only one member voting against.

Kenya was suspended by the world governing body last year over Government interference after Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed disbanded the Federation over what she termed as irregular use of public funds.

Nick Mwendwa was arrested twice and charged in court under the Anti-Corruption act, and due to the pressure that came with the hunt for his head, resigned from the Federation and left the mandate to his vice president Doris Petra.

However, despite that, CS Amina Mohamed still insisted that the caretaker committee she installed, chaired by retired Chief Justice Aron Ringera remained in place and would run football in the country.

In a rejoinder, FIFA last month suspended Kenya over the same, and said the only way the country would be reinstated was when and if the CS would back down on her Committee and re-install the Federation back to office.

“Finally, notwithstanding this suspension imposed on the FKF and in line with FIFA zero-tolerance policy towards corruption and any other unethical conduct, FIFA reiterates its commitment to cooperating with any ongoing investigations regarding FKF officials. FIFA will therefore remain at the disposal of the national authorities during the suspension period,” a letter to FKF Secretary General Barry Otieno, from FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura stated.

FKF President Nick Mwendwa

In a rejoinder, Amina said that she would not back down on her decision, and said they were also in the process of finishing up on the new FKF Constitution which they said would be sent to FIFA.

“The Caretaker Committee that I legally established and that is fully recognized by our laws, has been hard at work. They have organized matches between our team and Uganda, Rwanda and Egypt and paid allowances on time, and levelled the playing field between male and female referees and players. It needs to be celebrated,”

“We expected FIFA to take notice of all the positive developments taking place, allow us to carry on with our legally prescribed mandate to put our own house in order and then work with us on normalization and fresh elections. We instead learnt through the media of a suspension based on government interference,” a statement from the CS stated.

National women’s football team Harambee Starlets already failed to play in the qualifiers for the Women’s Cup of Nations due to the non-existence of a recognized Federation while the national men’s team might not play the qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON if the suspension is not lifted.