NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 29 – The tussle between the ministry of sports and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is far from over with Kenya Women’s Football team, Harambee Starlets being the victims after their second attempt of qualifying in the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations was thrown in disarray.
This follows the withdrawal of the team by FKF Chief Executive Officer, Barry Otieno in a letter sent to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) General Secretary, Veron Mosengo-omba, stating that the federation is incapacitated after it was disbanded by the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Amina Mohamed.
However, CAF is yet to respond to the letter, that will give a direction on the way forward even after Harambee Stars reported camp three days ago (Wednesday) at the Moi International Sports Center Kasarani under new head coach Alex Alumira.
According to CAF and FIFA rules, its only the federation that can plan and organise international matches.
“Taking consideration of the existing government directive, taking over all football activities, the federation is unable to independently plan and successfully execute any international matches, which includes the upcoming Kenya vs Uganda AWCON 2022 qualifier matches, scheduled to take place within the February 14, 2022 to February 23, 2022 FIFA window,” Otieno wrote in the letter.
He continued, “However, the federation will keep CAF informed, should the aforementioned situation change and the FKF Secretariat regains access to the FKF premises and is able to fully control footballing activities in the country.”
In a rejoinder, the Cabinet Secretary disregarded the letter, saying that she will contact CAF and FIFA to rectify the misrepresentation.
“We have learnt that there is a suspected fraudulent letter that was purportedly written to CAF to withdraw our heroines, Harambee Starlets, from the Africa women’s Cup of Nations qualifier against Uganda. It should be noted that the team is already in camp preparing for the first leg in Kampala, on February 17, 2022 and the return leg five days later,” CS Amina stated.
“The Harambee Starlets have worked so hard to get to the last hurdle to the AWCON finals in Morocco later in the year and any attempt to interfere with that must be condemned and not allowed to succeed,” she added.
“Anyone found to be involved in any such attempt will be held fully accountable. As ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage, we have mobilized every resource under the guidance of the FKF Caretaker Committee led by Justice (Rtd) Aron Ringera to ensure Harambee Starlets are ready for the fixture against Uganda.”
“The ministry is doing everything possible to contact the relevant authorities at the Confederation of African Football and the world governing body FIFA. Harambee Starlets will continue with their preparations as we seek to correct this misrepresentation.”