By Agnes Amondi,
Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary of Sport Ambassador Amina Mohammed is on record stating that the government will not delve into the financial settlement amounting to Ksh 109 million owed to former Harambee Stars head coach Adel Amrouche for wrongful dismissal and delayed payment, as they were not a party to.
Amina termed this ‘irresponsible behaviour’ and put the federation on the spotlight as she said they (FKF) were ‘seeking to abdicate their role’.
“No Government in its right senses would fork out Sh109million to pay an individual for the mistakes of an irresponsible federation,” CS Mohamed.
“It is baffling to expect the Government to pay for the irresponsible behaviour of a federation seeking to abdicate its role,” she added.
This leaves the Nick Mwendwa led federation between a rock and a hard place as the world governing body FIFA on Monday gave another 30 day ultimatum to settle the debt after the March 11 deadline was missed.
Failure to observe the revised timeline risks Kenya’s participation in the 2021 World Cup qualifiers. Also, the country stands to loose out on the FIFA development funds which might be diverted to pay Amrouche.
There have been counter accusations between the incurmbent Mwendwa and his predeseccor Sam Nyamweya onto where the blame lies.
In an interview granted to a local media outlet Citizen Digital, Mwendwa stated that though they’ll take responsibility, he is also keen to point out that the problem was generated by the previous regime.
“I don’t want to mention names but everyone knows who sacked Amrouche having given him a five-year contract.
What did I do when we came in? I have been in court for four years trying to challenge the amount of money he was awarded in the case. Finally, CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sports) said that we pay,”
“We accept that this in now our problem, but we must remind people where it all started,” said FKF president Nick Mwendwa in a past interview with Citizen Digital.
Nyamweya on his part defended his administration. He said he had resolved to negotiate the comeback of the Algeria born Belgian to prevent the sanction but Mwendwa stopped the move.
Lesson Learnt
In a bid to avoid a repeat of such situation, FKF has moved to adopt a policy that prohits hiring national team coaches at all levels on closed contracts.
“Essentially, the federation in an effort aimed at preventing a reoccurrence of the aforementioned case that was occasioned by former FKF president Sam Nyamweya, has henceforth adopted a policy prohibits the hiring of national team coaches, at all levels on closed contracts.” an FKF statement read in part.
