If FKF, KPL can’t agree, get them out of the game

NAIROBI: Because we like bulldozing things and cutting corners, our football has been found short on every aspect of the beautiful game. For over a decade now, the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) have engaged in endless squabbles, and the game has been the poor for it. In the meantime, talent has been wasted and football careers broken.

A recent meeting between FKF and KPL officials on the number of teams in the Premier League ended in disarray after they failed to agree. Kenyan football lovers now find themselves between a rock and a hard place. While KPL has done a fairly remarkable job running the league, they have bended the rules by bypassing FKF according to Fifa regulations.

First, KPL and FKF should have penned an MoU and stuck by it. That agreement would include control of money put into the game by Fifa, sponsors and television companies such as SuperSport. It would also include the number of teams in the league. In the absence of such an agreement, FKF and KPL have been flexing muscles and taunting each other as football standards dwindle.

At the core of this brinkmanship is two groups with big money, but do not want to be accountable to anyone, including the sponsors. That kind of situation easily breeds corruption and quickly brings the game into disrepute. Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario, has promised to give a way forward after the latest stalemate. We only urge for decisive measures to save our game from selfish and greedy individuals.