Football Kenya Federation protests govt audit directive
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) is reading malice in the recent directive by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed that they should be audited by the Sports Registrar as the process begins today.
The federation has already alerted the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and world football governing body Fifa about the development.
The CS gave the orders on Friday, a day after the High Court cleared the path for the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to investigate FKF boss Nick Mwendwa over suspected misappropriation of funds at Kandanda House.
The FKF boss had on October 1 last year sought to stop the DPP and DCI from investigating him over a complaint to the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit (BFIU) direct transfer of millions of shillings from the federation to Mwendwa’s personal accounts.
Through lawyer Tom Ojienda, Mwendwa sued DCI and the DPP alongside journalist Milton Nyakundi, who had filed the complaint with the Banking Fraud Investigations Unit of DCI on October 1 last year.
Nyakundi had also separately filed the complaint on July 29 last year with the Investigatory Chamber and Ethics Committee of world football governing body, Fifa, under Article 58 (1) of the Fifa Code of Ethics to activate Article 59 of the Fifa Code of Ethics to find that Mwendwa had violated the law.
The journalist has flagged the movement of over $94,077 and Sh17,583,951 between January 18, 2019 and June 26,2020.
“Pursuant to section 52 (1) of the Sports Act (2013) I have directed the Registrar of Sports to undertake the inspection of FKF in accordance with the provisions of the Act.
She is expected to commence the exercise from October 18 for a period of less than two weeks and submit a report to my office on or before November 2, 2021,” the CS said on Friday.
In a letter addressed to the CS and signed by FKF Chief Executive Barry Otieno, the federation felt that the Registrar who has a case against them in court, may not be impartial in the audit.
“FKF wishes to inform you that the directive is confounding as the scope, terms of reference or underlying objectives are unknown.
Moreover, the federation is genuinely concerned that the Sports Registrar, Rose Wasike, tasked to carry out the said inspection, was part of a group of individuals who tried to block the 2020 FKF elections through endless litigation for over a year,” read the letter to the CS.
Otieno also questioned the two-weeks’ time limit given to audit the federation and give a report, saying it showed that outcome may be already predetermined, because the time was short.
