Kenya’s top two football bodies are at odds over the fate of the current season after the president of the nation’s football governing body announced the winners of the country’s top two leagues.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa on Thursday in a series of tweets announced that the leaders of the Kenyan Premier League, Gor Mahia, and the second-tier National Super League, Nairobi City Stars, were declared champions.
“Ooh and Congratulations Gor Mahia! You are champions once again and you will represent Kenya on the Champions League next season. Let’s do this!” FKF President Nick Mwendwa tweeted.
“Nairobi City Stars!! Welcome to the Premier league,” he added in another tweet.
Mwendwa then proceeded to cite the regulations of the federation that provided for such a decision to be made.
One of them, rule 2.6.1.2 states that “Where all the clubs in the league have completed the first round fixtures but less than 75% league games have been played, the table standings at the end of the first round shall be considered as the final table standing of the league”.
However, the Kenyan Premier League, the company responsible for managing the top league, strongly protested against the move to cancel the season without looking into other possibilities which would see the season played to its conclusion.
The KPL accused FKF of selectively applying rules and interpreting communication by CAF causing a breach of the KPL’s mandate.
“The COVID-19 pandemic season is not unique to just Kenya and, therefore, we see no urgency to have the league ended by May 15. We have been in contact with other leagues which are under the jurisdiction of CAF and none is contemplating annulling their league season for now. Further to that, these leagues and others in other parts of the world are not under pressure from their federations and confederations to end their season prematurely since even CAF is yet to complete in CAF competitions for this year,” a statement signed by KPL CEO Jack Oguda read in part.
The KPL added that a decision to end the season can only be taken into account if CAF, which has not yet completed its own club competitions, had ordered all its members to do so by a certain date.
“Should such a directive come from CAF, KPL will exercise its mandate to give the way forward to FKF on the fate of the league after convening a Governing Council meeting,” the statement said.
According to the KPL, an agreement between the two bodies allows it to manage the Kenyan Premier League until September 24.
On April 7, the KPL issued a statement suspending the 2019/2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic. The KPL said at the time that there was no urgency in determining the fate of the season.
Should the FKF’s decision stand, this will be Gor Mahia’s fourth consecutive title and record-extending 19th overall. It will also mean that Kenya will become the first African country to end its football season.
