The International Federation of Association Football has suspended Kenya, four months after the Kenyan government dissolved the National Football Federation on suspicion of corruption and embezzlement. The Minister of Sports, supported by certain Kenyan editorialists, accuses Fifa of letting things go wrong.
Do the rules of the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) take precedence over Kenyan law? On February 24, four months after the decision of the Kenyan government to dissolve the National Football Federation, suspected of embezzlement, Fifa announced the suspension of Kenya by denouncing a “interference” contrary to the statutes of the organization. In the press, some commentators are worried, unlike “Fifa interference in good governance”.
Between Fifa and the Kenyan government, nothing has been going well since November 11, 2021. On that day, Amina Mohamed, the Minister of Sports, suspended Nick Mwendwa, the president of the Football Federation of Kenya (FKF), its director , Barry Otieno, and several executives, suspected of embezzlement and mismanagement, recalls the Kenyan daily The Standard. Dissolved, the federation is entrusted to an interim committee.
The next day, November 12, Fifa sent a letter to the ousted director, indicating that“it is up to Fifa alone, on the basis of serious and well-founded information and in exceptional circumstances, to dismiss the governing bodies of member associations and to appoint a normalization committee”. The organization then threatened Kenya with suspension, stating that the appointment by a third party of an interim committee was contrary to its statutes.
For the Kenyan federation, the consequences of the suspension are severe: prohibition of all international competition. In addition, its players can no longer be transferred to foreign clubs, specifies the daily Nation in an editorial. The announcement, expected, angered the Minister of Sports, who recalls that “decision [de dissoudre la fédération nationale] was taken when it became apparent that the way FKF was handling football development
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