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Mwendwa's biggest sin? Chasing away KPL sponsor SuperSport - Nyamweya
The South African pay television company left after two teams were added to the top tier in 2017
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) presidential aspirant Sam Nywamweya has criticised Nick Mwendwa's actions, saying it chased away South Africa-based broadcaster SuperSport.
The Johannesburg-based broadcaster ended its contract to air the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) matches after the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) ruling which recognized the FKF's decision to add two more teams to the top-tier in 2017.
Nyamweya, who has been a huge critic of his successor, says Mwendwa's actions are to be blamed for the broadcaster's exit.
“His [Mwendwa’s] acts made SuperSport TV run and that is his biggest sin. SuperSport ran away because FKF forced KPL to have 18 teams and not 16,” Nyamweya told Radio Jambo.
“After they had their way, FKF promised to give KPL financial support, in front of the SDT, for having 18 teams in the league. They never did that.
“Economically, it was not possible for KPL to have 18 teams and this is the reason we lost them.”
Kenya had won the rights to host the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan) but the rights were later withdrawn due to lack of preparedness and Nyamweya counts that as another failure by Mwendwa.
“Failure to host Chan is another biggest failure. Despite stating there were pitches ready for the tournament, that was not the case eventually as it emerged,” added the former president.
The FKF has also had to deal with questions arising from the use of funds, especially the KSh244M given to them to facilitate their preparations for the 2019 African Cup of Nations, and Nyamweya said they must be held accountable.
“Lack of accountability and transparency on government, Fifa and Caf funds is another big issue with the current FKF,” added the aspirant.
“The former Permanent Secretary Peter Kaberia and the Sports Cabinet Secretary have questioned their use of funds before.
“If you get such a huge amount of money and you are not accountable, that becomes a big problem.
“Caf has been sending money but unfortunately the same cannot be accounted for. During my time, we only got USD 250,000 per year and the government financial support was meagre, to say the least.
“I can remember before our game against Cape Verde [a World Cup qualifier in 2015], we got money from the government on Friday when the team was to travel on Saturday. How would you purchase air tickets and prepare in such circumstances?
“Recently, the government gave the federation KSh244 million something that was never enjoyed during the previous administrations.
“We worked hard despite the challenges and ensured no player owed us any of their allowances.”
