By Kenn Okaka
Former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) presidential aspirant Hussein Mohammed should make the bold step to enter the race for the FKF presidency in the upcoming FKF elections and stop engaging in futile side shows.
The Extreme Sports Chief Executive, who lost the race during the 2012 FKF elections has been silent in the cold and since his defeat and the tournament he founded named Extreme super eight has reportedly not been held since.
Hussein has allegedly resorted to unorthodox tactics as he seeks to have an easy route to FKF presidency but I advice Hussein to man up and face the elections ready to win or lose.
Allegations have been in the air that Hussein has in the recent times taken to sponsoring twitter wars on the federation leadership with trending harsh tags and stories in his unrelenting efforts to taint the federation’s image ahead of the polls instead of taking his campaigns to FKF delegates, who are the electorate at any given FKF elections.
All of a sudden, Hussein has woken up from deep slumber and remembered that in Kenya, there exists a football body which he can allegedly attempting to ascend to its leadership. His game plan is well known as ensuring that the current president does not run for election and therefore granting him an easier opponent.
During the grilling of Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba by the National Assembly on Wednesday 23rd August, Dagoretti North Member of Parliament John Kiarie posed a question to the CS wanting to know if the minister was aware of the upcoming FKF elections.
Unknown to Namwamba, the MP has been a long time friend to Hussein and was only asking this, allegedly on behalf of Hussein. The response of the minister was crystal clear; that FKF will hold its elections as scheduled. With this knowledge, Hussein should now fold up his sleeves and get ready to face elections. However, I hold the opinion that he will still lose to incumbent Nick Mwendwa.
MP Kiarie must have sunk to a new low level by allowing himself to be used in reportedly advancing the agenda of Hussein on the floor of the house, whereas there are more pertinent issues that could be discussed to develop the sports sector in the country.
Hussein must be called out and told to stop hiding behind Kiarie, while on the same day allegedly sponsoring twitter campaigns against FKF. While he has all the right to air his opinion on the running of FKF, he must come with clean hands. That he last organised his tournament over seven years ago after losing the elections tells that his interest in developing football in Kenya is questionable.
During the 2022 general electioneering period, Hussein made his friends and supporters believe that he was going to land a cabinet secretary position, this never bore fruits. He again is said to have lobbied to be appointed a principal secretary and Chief Administrative roles but his lobbying bore no fruits. His attempts to secure position only indicates that Hussein is only out to seek for employment and having failed to land any in government, the only other area that he can try out is FKF. Therefore, he must understand that depicting the federation in negative light will only expose his selfish plans rather than propel him to victory.
The alleged sponsoring of social media propaganda is an attempt in futility and the best campaign tool would be to consistently organise the Extreme super eight tournaments to give the youth more chances of exploring their talent and seeking opportunities.
With less than a year before the FKF elections, Hussein has now to get ready to face elections or simply shut up and allow those in office time to deliver development to the Kenyan football sector.
FKF has during the last seven years empowered more than 8000 coaches from the grassroots to the top level with coaching courses. During the same time, even the annual tournament that Hussein had in the football calendar has gone under. The comparison must be a threshold to measure the real development minded football leaders.