FIFA send Kenya into exile
Kenya have been handed an indefinite ban from all international competitions by football’s world governing body FIFA.
The FIFA Emergency Committee decided on the course of action after it deemed the country had failed to respect agreements to resolve recurrent problems in their football association, in particular relating to the integrity of national competitions and the fact that FIFA’s Statutes, regulations and decisions had been regularly violated or ignored by members of the Kenyan football federation.
It is the second ban in two years for the east African nation.
The panel ratified proposals issued by FIFA’s Executive Committee after the country failed to implement an order to unify Kenya’s two rival premier leagues into a single 18-team entity.
But Kenyan Football Federation (KFF) chairman Alfred Sambu said he was not aware of the ban.
“I am still waiting for official communication from FIFA,” Sambu told reporters.
KFF general secretary Dan Omino, who believes that both he and his chairman, Alfred Sambu, have been unfairly targeted, last week claimed they had fulfilled all recommendations set by FIFA.
Omino said the problems affecting Kenyan football would continue because FIFA were applying double standards by relying on misinformation from some local football officials.
FIFA suspended Kenya for three months in 2004 for government interference but the situation was reversed after the country accepted to draw up new statutes.
In January 2006, an agreement was signed in Cairo between the KFF, the Kenyan Professional League, club representatives and FIFA under the auspices of the FIFA President, the CAF President and the Kenyan Minister of Sports, in which the Kenyan football federation committed to several measures to improve the situation.
Noting that these agreements had not been respected and that the situation in Kenyan football had deteriorated with disagreements between the top clubs, the FIFA President sent a letter to the KFF on 21 September 2006 setting a final deadline of 18 October to provide urgent confirmation, not only in writing but in acts, that the KFF would fully implement the agreement signed in Cairo.
Having observed that these agreements have not been respected or only implemented to a very limited degree, the Associations Committee recommended the suspension of the KFF on 18 October.