November 11: Kenya has just over seven months to prepare for its co-hosting of Africa’s biggest football tournament. Its soccer federation, meanwhile, has spent the past week surrounded by a leadership dispute.
The latest round of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) leadership battle ended with police firing tear gas at a special general meeting in Meru, with vice-president McDonald Mariga and six executive members expelled and Mariga taking the fight to FIFA.
Saturday’s meeting at the Three Steers Hotel had been called to deal with the conduct of seven FKF National Executive Committee members who have been at odds with President Hussein Mohammed.
Police were deployed around the site and tear gas was fired as officials and rival groups gathered inside. Mariga arrived with an armed police escort, but was later denied entry to the meeting, which eventually went ahead after several hours of disruption.
Sixty-six of the 92 FKF delegates attended. Mariga and several of his allies were removed by a vote of 65 in favor, and the remaining expulsions received equally overwhelming support.
Mariga questions both the process and who was allowed to participate.
He has now asked FIFA to overturn his dismissal, arguing that those facing expulsion were denied a proper hearing, accredited delegates were kept out and a secret ballot was not held.
“Due process was not followed to get us out,” he told the Daily Nation.
Mariga said he has handed over material to FIFA related to the dispute and is also consulting lawyers about a possible challenge at Kenya’s Sports Disputes Tribunal.
The breakdown is particularly surprising because Mohammed and Mariga arrived at the FKF together. They were elected president and vice president in December 2024 as a “Team Fresh” ticket, but the relationship has since collapsed into two rival camps within the executive committee.
The split became public in April when a group aligned with Mariga sought to suspend Mohammed, acting secretary-general Dennis Gicheru and NEC member Abdullahi Yusuf over allegations over a KSh 42.48 million (£243,724) insurance settlement.
Those allegations are still being disputed, but no fraud charges have been filed.
Earlier this month, FIFA blocked an NEC meeting called by Mariga’s faction, ruling that the request it was based on did not provide a valid constitutional basis for calling it.
Mohammed has defended Saturday’s expulsions, maintaining that the seven officials were invited to answer the charges against them. Their opponents say they were prevented from doing so.
Kenya will host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations alongside Uganda and Tanzania from June 19 to July 17. There is no suggestion from CAF that Kenya’s hosting rights are under threat, and much of the infrastructure work falls to the government and local organizing committee rather than the FKF.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at (email protected)