William Ruto allies came to the defense of beleaguered Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa who was arrested for looting the football governing body.
Mwendwa was arrested from Nyayo stadium on Friday November 12th where Harambee Stars was training and taken to Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters for grilling.
He was questioned at DCI over millions advanced to FKF by the government over the years. Mwendwa is accused of looting millions.
Mwendwa is facing accusations of abuse of office, mismanaging the federation and misuse of taxpayers’ money.
He was questioned on Ksh244 million the state extended to the federation to prepare Harambee stars for the 2019 African Cup of Nations that was hosted in Egypt.
The arrest came just a day after FKF was disbanded by Sports CS Amina Mohammed who appointed a caretaker committee to oversee football matters in Kenya.
The Sport CS disbanded FKF hours after an inspection committee she had tasked with conducting an audit of the federation reported several misgivings with the football body.
Although Amina Mohammed’s action has been praised in the sports fraternity, it has not been well-received in Ruto’s camp that yesterday said the CS is engaging in politics with the removal of Nick Mwendwa.
Mwendwa’s arrest ignited high octane politics with Ruto allies defending the beleaguered FKF president with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s camp insisted the organization had to disbanded.
Uhuru’s camp accused his deputy’s camp of benefiting from funds looted from FKF while the DP’s leaning MPs accused the government of high-handedness and failing to resolve the problems bedeviling football.
Former Sports CS Rashid Echesa, who is a staunch supporter of DP, asked the CS to stop meddling in the affairs of the federation and initiate dialogue with Mwendwa to establish the genesis of the woes bedeviling the sector.
Kericho senator Aaron Cheruiyot another ally of Ruto said the Sports CS is misguided by disbanding FKF, asking her to stick to section 52-54 of the Sports Act on disbandment of FKF.
President Uhuru allies however accused the DP’s side of playing politics with with football and talent in Kenya.
Jubilee deputy secretary general and Cherangany MP Joshua Kutuny claimed that DP allies who are against the disbandment of FKF are doing so because his camp has never supported the government in its initiatives to fight corruption.
According to Kutuny, FKF is one of the bodies that the Tangatanga has benefited from greatly and their ‘cries’ will not deter the President Kenyatta’s administration from weeding corruption.
“One of the institutions that they have milked is FKF because they have been having their associates there, sports is a big industry in other jurisdictions but here we have killed talents of many young people,” said Kutuny.
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