NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 4- There is a growing uncertainty over whether the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and in extension the Kagame Cup will be held in Nairobi with the Football Kenya Federation saying it is yet to hear from the organisers.
FKF President Nick Mwendwa has told Capital Sport they gave their conditions of hosting to the organisers but with barely three weeks to the tournament, they are yet to get any feedback and hence remain non-committal on whether they will host the tourney.
“It is minuted, I offered to host CECAFA in Cairo when we had the CAF General Assembly, but under certain conditions. We said that we are ready to host as long as the clubs pay for their own transport and accommodation. We will take care of local transport,” Mwendwa told Capital Sport.
He added: “But up to now, we have not heard from CECAFA. There is no circular detailing the dates and the venue. I heard there are sponsors being looked for, I am not sure where that has reached. We are ready to host and we are ready to play, but under those conditions.”
This comes even as CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye told AFP they are talking to Sudan to look at the possibilities of hosting the tourney there.
“Kenya has told us that they are not ready to host the championships which was scheduled to kick-off in late November to early December. We are now back to negotiating with Sudan again to see if they can agree to have the event back in Khartoum. Hopefully we should be able to get a conclusive reply by Friday,” Musonye was quoted by the news agency.
The recent development also throws into disarray the organization of the Kagame Cup which was also set for Nairobi after Tanzania declined hosting it in August due to a congested calendar.
CECAFA has been going through tumultuous financial times over the last three years with the Senior Challenge Cup failing to take off in 2014 due to financial constraints.
The tournament was however hosted last year in Ethiopia.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame, under who the tournament is named usually sponsors to the tune of Sh6mn with all the amount going into prize money. CECAFA are usually tasked with finding running costs.
Last year, the regional soccer body signed up a marketing company to assist net sponsors to the tournament, but the same seems to be struggling in picking up.