Former Harambee Stars international Elijah Onsika has made a clarion call to the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to bite the bullet and sack head coach Engin Firat stating he will not take Kenya anywhere.
Harambee Stars returned home with two points from their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Burundi and African champions Ivory Coast denting their lingering hopes of qualifying for their first-ever World Cup in history.
In their matchday three fixture at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe, Malawi on June 7th, Harambee Stars gave away a late goal to draw 1-1 against the Swallows before putting up a brave fight to snatch a 0-0 draw against the Elephants on June 11.
Though the draw against Ivory Coast felt like a vital point gained for the East African nation, Burundi’s 3-0 victory against Seychelles saw Kenya relinquish third spot in the six-team table to settle at fifth with five points from four matches.
Onsika, who played for Harambee Stars in the late 80s, believes Kenya deserved to yield at least four points from the Malawi tour but added the Turkish tactician’s poor squad selection and fielding was to blame for what he described as a “disastrous outing”.
Onsika further explained why he felt Firat’s time at the helm of Harambee Stars had reached a dead end and outlined that for Kenya’s game to rise again, he should be sent packing alongside his technical bench for a new start.
“Firat has lost the plot, he has been here for a very long time, but he doesn’t understand which players to select for camp training and, who should start in respective matches, is that the type of coach we want for the national team?” he told SportsBoom.com.
Onsika continued: “For example, ahead of Burundi, and Ivory Coast matches, he summoned three new call-ups from Europe, but at the end of the matches, no one played, and none was on the bench, reason, he summoned players even not confirming with them whether they have proper travel documents, at the end it means Kenya had less players in Malawi.”
While naming his provisional squad for the qualifiers, Firat handed debut calls to European-based players – Bruce Kamau, who turns out for Perth Glory in Australia, Adam Wilson of Bradford City in England, and Tobias Knost (24), who plays in Germany for SV Verl.
However, on naming the travelling squad of 25, only Knost made the list, alongside another late inclusion Zak Vyner, who plays for Bristol City.
It later emerged that Knost and Vyner had not accompanied the team to Malawi because of a hitch in their travelling documents.
In the process, Firat then went ahead to summon players based in Kenya – youngster Baron Ochieng from Sofapaka, David Okoth and David ‘Cheche’ Ochieng from Kenya Police FC, and Clyde Senaji, who features for Nyasa Big Bullets in Zambia – to link up with the squad in Malawi, and it happened after they had played against the Swallows.
What irritated Onsika more was the fact that none of the late summons made it to his starting XI for the Ivory Coast clash.
“He (Firat) then went for panic replacements, airlifting players to Malawi after the Burundi game as he planned to face Ivory Coast, and out of the players he handed a late call, none of them played, they sat on the bench, so what was the sense of calling the players late on?
“Why couldn’t he prepare the team with the players we have in the country? We have massive talent in the FKF Premier League, but Firat has neglected it, if he summons a local-based player to camp today, tomorrow he drops them, he doesn’t understand what he is doing, and he doesn’t know what he wants. It is a difficult situation that must be addressed, and the only way is for FKF to fire him.”
Onsika, who handled Kenya’s U19 national team in 2002 and took them to the CECAFA youth tournament in Zanzibar where they reached the quarterfinals, further wondered why the government through Cabinet Secretary for Sports Ababu Namwamba had not implored FKF had to do away with Firat and trust the job on a local coach.
“Firat he is an opportunist, he will take Kenya nowhere, I even am wondering why the Ministry of Sports has not talked about what happened in Malawi or even asked FKF to intervene and clean the technical bench,” said Onsika.
Onsika gave an example of former coaches Jacob ‘Ghost’ Mulee and Francis Kimanzi saying during their time in charge, Kenya was a feared football nation across the East African region.
“We have local coaches, who can do better than Firat. If you compare the performance of the team during the time of ‘Ghost’ (Mulee), Kimanzi, and earlier on Mohammed Kheri, it was the best team to sit and watch with players in the local league and fans fighting to associate with the team, Kenya was the best team in the East African region, we must come to the table and give local coaches a chance.”