KFK Vice-president Robert Asembo (left) and President Sam Nyamweya (centre) in a NEC meeting in Eldoret. The two have been urged to quit the federation by NEC member Tom Alila.
NAIROBI, May 27- Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have been reprimanded for breach of confidentiality by broadcast partners, MP and Silva after elaborate financial details of their Sh2.3b ($2.5 million) annual five-year sponsorship leaked to the media.
At the same time, National Executive Committee (NEC) Member, Tom Alila has called for immediate resignations of federation President, Sam Nyamweya and his deputy Robert Asembo saying “the activities of the two gentlemen have compromised the image of Kenyan football in the region, continent and the world,” in a scathing personal letter.
MP and Silva, the media rights agency that entered into partnership with FKF to distribute the FKF-Premier League on television and other media outlets are enraged details of the package and complaints about execution of the contract were seeped out to the press.
In a scathing letter marked ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ addressed to Nyamweya and CEO, Michael Esakwa dated May 22, 2015, solicitor Olga Malmkvist writing on behalf of MP and Silva lambasts FKF for violating their ‘non-disclosure obligation’ after what they term ‘highly sensitive information’ found its way to the public domain.
The reprimand letter contains the link to the story on Capital Sport that broke news the firm had stopped remitting further monies to the federation until the complaints they raised about the agreement are addressed; https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2015/05/14/mpsilva-halts-further-payments-to-fkf.
FKF Media released a press statement the following day on May 14 where they all but confirmed things were not rosy between them and the broadcast partners as they called for calm whilst working on a solution in this follow-up story published on May 15 https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/sports/2015/05/15/fkf-pleads-for-calm-to-sort-mpsilva-mess/
“To our great surprise, it came to our attention that, in spite of the Non-Disclosure Obligation, You made available a substantial amount of confidential details in relation to the Agreement, including the details of the letter from MPS to FKF dated 13 May 2015 with regard to re-negotiations of certain terms of the Agreement were disclosed by FKF in a press release on 14 May 2015 (“Unauthorised Press Release”),” the solicitor writes in the confidential letter that was once again, obtained by Capital Sport.
“Specifically, the statements made by FKF in the Unauthorised Press Release and publicly available, contain highly sensitive information, such as the exact amount of a part of the minimum guarantee payable by MPS to FKF for Season 2015 (USD833,000/Sh80, 120,436, 020.54),” Malmkvist added.
MP and Silva are also aggrieved that amounts payable by Azam TV for broadcast rights in relation to certain football properties managed and licensed by FKF are also disclosed, specifically the USD2m (Sh202) three-year sponsorship deal.
“PLEASE BE ADVISED that, while it is difficult to foresee at this stage the amount of loss MPS is going to suffer and the exact amount of damages MPS will be entitled to as a result of FKF’s material breach the Non Disclosure Obligations under the Agreement (Breach of Contract), Your Breach of Contract has irreparably affected the MPS’ ability to negotiate broadcast licences with potential licensees,” part of the reproach letter reads.
The firm is urging the federation to “make sure no further publication of confidential information relating to the agreement are made” in addition to demanding the articles posted on Capital Sport on the subject to be pulled down.
-Alila breaks ranks-
However, the matter that is subject to huge public interest and rights enshrined in the Kenya Constitution of 2010, took another twist on Monday when Alila, the FKF NEC member for Nyanza made sensation claims in his personal statement titled Why Sam Nyamweya and Robert Asembo Must Quit.
“I sit on the FKF National Executive Committee but we were never informed or given details of the contract. The nearest I came to see it to seeing it is when the President casually showed it to me at a NEC meeting.
“This happened when I wrote to the sponsor demanding to see the contract after it emerged that there was serious discrepancy regarding the signatures of premier leagues clubs which had been inserted without their authority,” Alila alleged in claiming Nyamweya and his deputy excluded fellow NEC members and constituent clubs in the negotiations for the MP and Silva deal.
Claims signatures were ‘forged’ were also raised in the initial MP and Silva letter signed by Chief Operations Officer Roberto Dalmiglio.
“The sponsor has now demanded an explanation for this illegal insertion and has asked the federation to re-negotiate the contract. In addition, the sponsor sent funds to the federation totalling to USD833,000 and all clubs were not paid for the month of May 2015, so we are wondering where the Sh18m went,” the NEC member added in further explosive accusations against his bosses.
“These two gentlemen are holding Kenyan football at ransom. How did they bring Harambee Stars on board with this contract for matches organised by continental body, CAF, yet their marketing are done by CAF and Fifa?
“We cannot have a national president of a football organisation obtaining contracts that are not binding legally and expect the NEC to be bound by it. Nyamweya is under investigation by (anti-graft body) EACC after the President (Uhuru Kenyatta) handed his name and others whose conduct were found wanting and inappropriate,” Alila charged.
“The case in point is where the County Government of Kisumu was duped into sending Sh3m to hold Cecafa (matches) that was never was. FKF statutes are not even in compliance with the Sports Act. This brings the federation in collision course with the Government,” the football official contended.
Capital Sport is reliably informed officials from 16 of the 19 FKF branches will converge in Nairobi to ‘rebel’ against Nyamweya who is expected to run for another term at the helm later this year, with Alila one of the candidates who has also thrown his hat to the ring for the top post.
Nyamweya is away for the Fifa General Congress and Friday presidential elections in Zurich having departed Tuesday.
