Questions mount over whether nine FKF NEC members who moved to oust President Hussein Mohammed may have unwittingly incriminated themselves before Parliament
Questions are mounting over whether FKF Vice President McDonald Mariga and eight fellow National Executive Committee members may have inadvertently exposed themselves to potential investigations through statements made before the Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Sports and Culture last week.
Mariga, appearing before the Dan Wanyama-led committee, claimed that national team budgets presented to the Ministry of Sports had not been approved by the NEC as required. It is a statement that sports governance experts say could come back to haunt him and his colleagues.
“He has put himself in an awkward position. The public will rightly ask: if the NEC never approved these budgets, how did nearly all nine of them travel with national teams and collect allowances funded from those very budgets? That is not a question you want hanging over you when you are the one crying foul.”
So says Barry Otieno, former FKF Chief Executive Officer and Principal Consultant at XP Sports, who has been closely watching the unfolding crisis at Football Kenya Federation.
“Before they know it, people will start asking that they all be investigated for possible wrongdoing. You cannot claim a process was illegal and then be a beneficiary of that same process. The two positions cannot coexist.”
Otieno believes the episode reflects a deeper problem: a fundamental lack of football governance experience within the faction that moved to remove President Hussein Mohammed from office on 24 April 2026.
“You look at what they have alleged and it is clear they lack experience. They have gone before Parliament and exposed themselves with claims that could seriously land them in trouble particularly if they received allowances and had travel and accommodation covered by the federation or the government.”
An Experience Deficit at the Heart of the Crisis
Of the nine NEC members who passed the controversial resolution on 24 April 2026, five are serving in national football governance for the first time, with no prior experience in football administration at this level. They are: Vice President McDonald Mariga, Peter Kamau (Lower Rift representative), Kerubo Momanyi (Women’s Representative), Collins Kalee (Nyanza), and Caleb Amwayi (Western).
Two others Dan Shikanda (Nairobi) and Robert Macharia (Central) have had limited exposure at club level. Macharia’s record, in particular, carries its own complications: he previously convened what was declared an illegal Special General Meeting, at which he appointed himself FKF National Chairman a position not recognised in the FKF Constitution.
Only Gabriel Mghendi (Coast) and Bernard Korir (Upper Rift) bring meaningful high-level football management experience to the faction.
“More than half of the nine lack high-level football management experience. This should concern not only football stakeholders but all Kenyans. We are on the cusp of hosting AFCON 2027. This is not the time for on-the-job learning at the top of our federation.”
FIFA Unlikely to Endorse the Ouster, Says Former CEO
Otieno is equally categorical that the world governing body is unlikely to ratify the NEC’s resolution to remove President Hussein Mohammed, Acting CEO Dennis Gicheru, and co-opted NEC member Abdalla Yusuf.
“You cannot accuse an individual of violating the FKF Constitution and then turn around and disregard that same constitution in your attempt to remove them from office. FIFA will see through that immediately.”
The former CEO points to the procedural failures that undermine the resolution’s legitimacy:
“The process to remove the President, the CEO, and Mr. Yusuf was fundamentally flawed. In my opinion it is highly unlikely that FIFA will back their action. The way they went about it clearly demonstrates they are either unfamiliar with football statutes or chose to ignore them. Either scenario should disqualify them from positions of leadership at this level.”
FIFA has already weighed in. On 26 April 2026 two days after the NEC meeting FIFA’s Chief Member Associations Officer, Mr. Elkhan Mammadov, formally wrote to FKF advising that FIFA and CAF were conducting an assessment of the constitutional compliance of the resolution. The letter, a copy of which has been seen, sought detailed documentation from the nine NEC members including evidence of valid quorum, proper notice, and whether the affected officials were given the right to defend themselves before the vote.
Courts Step In as Football Activities Disrupted
The NEC resolution has since been stayed by two separate court orders a conservatory order from the Sports Disputes Tribunal of Kenya in Case No. SDTSC/E028/2026 issued on 27 April 2026, and a further order from the High Court both obtained by concerned FKF members.
Despite those orders, the nine NEC members have continued to disrupt football operations. FKF accounts were partially frozen, and the launch of the Safaricom Chapa Dimba tournament a flagship youth competition that provides hundreds of thousands of young Kenyans with an opportunity to be scouted was threatened after the faction wrote to Safaricom questioning the sponsorship arrangement, claiming the NEC had not been involved in negotiations.
They eventually relented under public pressure, allowing the tournament to proceed.
“Sponsorship negotiation is not an NEC function. It is a basic administrative function overseen by the CEO or the Head of Commercialisation. The NEC’s role like that of a company board is vision and policy formulation, not day-to-day administration. Their letter to Safaricom was not only out of order, it was an illustration of how little they understand the scope of their own mandate.”
Otieno notes that the FKF Constitution specifically provides that the NEC shall meet only four times a year a deliberate structural safeguard designed to ensure separation between the board’s strategic oversight role and the secretariat’s operational management of the federation.
AFCON 2027 Hangs in the Balance
Beyond the internal politics, experts warn that the ongoing power struggle is doing lasting damage to Kenya’s football brand and, more critically, to its ability to deliver on its obligations as a co-host of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
Kenya is scheduled to co-host AFCON 2027 alongside Uganda and Tanzania in June and July of that year under what has been termed the Pamoja Project. The Kenyan government has already committed billions of shillings to infrastructure development including upgrades to Kasarani, the ongoing construction of Talanta stadium and the gazette of a Local Organising Committee constituted to oversee the tournament preparations.
“If this situation is not resolved urgently through the proper constitutional and legal frameworks, Kenya risks losing the opportunity to host AFCON 2027. The government has invested billions. Sponsors have committed. The LOC is operational. All of that is at risk if the federation is seen to be ungovernable. The parties involved need to ask themselves whether their political ambitions are worth that cost to the country.”
All 48 FKF Branch Delegates the supreme democratic organ of the Federation, representing all county associations across Kenya have already spoken. At a meeting convened following the events of 24 April, The delegates reaffirmed their exclusive commitment to working with President Hussein Mohammed and the legitimately elected FKF leadership.
Both the High Court and the Sports Disputes Tribunal are scheduled to hear the matter in full. FIFA’s assessment is ongoing. And the clock on AFCON 2027 is ticking.
