NAIROBI, Kenya, May 10, 2026 – Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe is set to meet high ranking officials of the sport in the country amid wrangles in the Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
The supremo’s visit is part of the Africa Forward Summit, set for Nairobi on May 11-12.
He will address the gathering on Monday afternoon on matters African football.
However, interest will be on the outcome of his deliberations on with top officials in Kenya, with the country preparing to co-host next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), alongside Uganda and Tanzania.
It has not been rosy so far for Kenya with the local governing body for the sport torn down the middle into two factions.
FKF president Hussein Mohammed was ousted by his national executive committee (NEC) members last month, in a meeting chaired by his deputy, McDonald Mariga.
The president is accused of complicity in the loss of Ksh 42 million allegedly brokerage fees that were paid to an unlicensed brokerage firm.
The fees was allegedly paid to the firm as license cover for last year’s Africa Nations Championships (CHAN), which Kenya also co-hosted with Uganda and Tanzania.
However, the former Extreme Sports CEO has termed his ouster as illegal, noting that Article 38 of FKF’s constitution empowers only the president to call for a NEC meeting.
He has repeatedly advanced that the meeting that orchestrated the coup d’etat was irregularly convened even as Mariga insists he is the acting president.
A subsequent ruling by the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) – as well as another one by the High Court – has given a reprieve to Mohammed by barring the Mariga faction from implementing any of the resolutions taken at the NEC meeting.
Meanwhile, Mohammed and Mariga have been entangled in showmanship and cold war in the past weeks, with each one attempting to flex their power muscles by ruling and overruling each other in the running of the federation.
Amidst the tug-of-war, Kenyan football enthusiasts are praying that the war does not spill over into the local organising committee (LOC), which is tasked with preparations for Afcon.
The Nicholas Musonye-led committee was reconstituted last month by Sports Cabinet Secretary Salim Mvurya who expanded it by including NEC members as well as Mohammed and Mariga.
It remains to be seen whether Motsepe’s meeting might the panacea that thaws the ice cold relations and allows all parties to re-shift their focus to the most important issue, which is that Kenya be ready to co-host the biggest football event ever staged on its soil in history.
