Aaron Ringera’s FKF Caretaker Committee has its work cut out

It is thirty-three days since Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed gazetted the Football Kenya Federation Caretaker Committee to run Kenya’s most loved sport after expunging controversial boss Nick Mwendwa and his entire National Executive Committee.

Based on early evidence, the retired judge Aaron Ringera-led 15-member Caretaker Committee is functioning, albeit laboriously. Football is back, which is a welcome relief to many but a lot of grey areas remain to be sorted.

The Committee does not seem to have a full grip on football management. The struggle to adapt was expected, but basic functions ought not to cause concerns for fifteen individuals vetted by the ministry and backed up by a secretariat.

FKF Caretaker Committee directs clubs to conduct business with associations that are Sports Act compliant

Financial impediments

The Committee is reportedly impeded by failure, thus far, by the ministry to allocate funds to run its operations. Weeks after a leak of an extremely inflated ‘draft’ budget raised a storm over intended spending by the Committee, a cloud of secrecy has engulfed operations relating to the new body.

The ‘budget’ was vehemently denounced as a fake, but Ringera and his team have failed to publish the real budget. The abounding doubts do not augur well with the game.

“I can tell you that all the plans are there but implementation will take a bit longer because the budgets for committee operations is yet to be disbursed. You can understand that government processes must go through some red tape so that there is no fault at the end of the day,” a member of the committee confidentially disclosed

The situation is such that service providers from the Kenya versus Rwanda AFCON tie at Nyayo stadium are yet to be paid, some for as low as Ksh30,000. The players who represented Harambee Stars for that game are also waiting for payment up to now.

Back to the top-flight and second-tier, clubs are not sure what they are playing for other than the promised Ksh300,000 and Ksh200,000 monthly stipends. The committee would do a great deal to spell out the entire plan.

In all likelihood, they will still be in charge come end of the season. The numerous court cases will definitely delay election and inauguration of a new office. The caretaker Committee must give a detailed plan for the remainder of the season.

Other than occasional tweets and tightly held press briefings, it is very difficult if not impossible to obtain information concerning match day preparations, let alone details or plans for the near future.

There is no appellate body in place for the usual disputes arising from everyday football matches. This leaves the Caretaker Committee looking ill-prepared to run the game, even in the interim.

Several match officials were, in the not so distant past, flagged for manipulating outcomes. Football cartels collude with match officials and match fixers to corrupt and then reap big from the sport. The Caretaker Committee has not stated any checks and balances on current match officials deployed for top-flight and second-tier games.

There is definitely still time for corrections here and there but uncertainty must be weeded out.

A starting point would be tasking one member of the committee to act as spokesman, dishing out timely updates around match day operations like referees’ appointments. Finer details on the Committee’s plan for Kenyan football until the season concludes would also help put to bed the numerous questions bothering clubs and the everyday fan.