Meet Kentice Tikolo: W***n tasked with mid*ifing FKF polls
Rodgers Ndegwa
Communications expert Kentice Tikolo is the person tasked to ensure Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections are above board.
Tikolo will chair the eight-member board which was unveiled on February 3 to replace the Edward Wamukoya-lead team that was sent packing by the Sport Disputes Tribunal over conflict of interest last year.
The new team has Tikolo, Patrick Onyango, a sports management consultant at Fifa, media personality Ali Hassan Kauleni, former referee Alfred Ndinya, Samuel Karanja, Rachel Muthoga, Elaine Mbugua and Andrew Mudibo.
That the name Tikolo is synonymous with cricket in Kenya, many have been curios about who Kentice is.
For the uninitiated, Kentice is the wife to cricket great Tom Tikolo, the former national team captain and the first indigenous Kenyan to chair the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA).
But that is where it ends as Kentice is a vastly experienced professional with over 20 years in Strategic Corporate Communications, having grown through the ranks, from a public relations officer to Head of Corporate Communications at Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS).
She has also been a sports administrator, being the former chairperson of Wazito FC who she led to Kenyan Premier League promotion in 2018 before it was taken over by current owners Badoer Investment Group.
“I feel privileged and honoured by the confidence bestowed on me by my colleagues in the board by vesting me with this responsibility.
I say thank you and promise not to disappoint,” says Kentice who has promised to deliver a credible election.
But it has not been smooth sailing for Kentice as a section of football stakeholders have opposed her team, terming them illegal as they feel the Special General Meeting (SGM) that approved them was not properly constituted.
Kentice and co have, however, stayed clear of the politics, hitting the ground running and at the end of last week, the board had received nomination papers from aspirants seeking branch seats across the country.
Apart from those responsibilities, she has also nurtured her son Jefrey Tikolo into a promising footballer, who scored the fasted goal in the Betway-sponsored FKF Cup when he netted in he third minute in Tandazo FC’s 1-0 win over Congo Boys on January 19.
