Rebuffing Nyamweya banned from football affairs for 10 years

The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) took the stern measure of suspending former President Sam Nyamweya from ‘all football activities’ for a period of 10 years starting March 28 as they accused him for violating the national body’s constitution.

In a letter sent to Nyamweya, copied to his predecessor Nick Mwendwa, its National Executive Committee (NEC) and world governing body FIFA, it was announced the decision had been reached on March 21.

“In the NEC meeting held on the 21st March 2016 and as per Article 14 (l) and Article 34 (m) of the FKF constitution, a decision was made to suspend you from all football activities in Kenya for a period of Ten (10) years from the date of this letter (March 28).

“The decision to suspend you was made for the following reasons;

1. That contrary to the statutes of FIFA, CAF and FKF you have lodged a case against FKF in an ordinary court and therefore are in violation of article 13 (f) of the FKF constitution. Your petition no. 59 of 2017 filed in the High Court in Kenya at Nairobi seeks to stop the federation from carrying out its mandate in the management and promotion of football in the country.
2. That on your own written admission illegally withdrew a sum of Kenya Shillings Two Million Five Hundred Thousand (Kshs 2,500,00) which was in a federation account and which was destined for FKF Aberdares branch.

“The decision by the National Executive Committee will be presented to the General Meeting of FKF for adoption,” the letter signed by the federation’s Chief Executive Robert Muthomi read in part.

For Nyamweya, the man behind the six-year suspensions of former Vice-chairman Sammy Shollei and former Nairobi branch Chairman Dan Shikanda in 2012, it was a taste of his own medicine as the FKF struck back for his series of spats with the federation.

He grabbed the headlines early February after being accused of colluding with a local to misappropriate Ksh2.5m meant for sports development at the FKF Aberdares branch.

In response at the time, Nyamweya admitted having withdrawn the funds albeit not on his own volition as ‘unpaid federation employees’ requested his intervention in helping access the funds.

A fortnight later, he sued his successor Mwendwa, the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) Limited as well as the Sports Disputes Tribunal over the stalemate that led to the delayed the start of the 2017 league season.

Also enjoined in the suit were Muthomi and his KPL counterpart, Jack Oguda with the former football chief stating the parties involved were not following the laid down procedures to resolve disputes in the game.

The stalemate had stemmed from a decision to relegate Muhoroni Youth and Sofapaka FC from the KPL for failing to meet CAF club licensing requirements, with Nyamweya also seeking to have the adoption of the criteria by FKF scrapped.

Earlier this month, Nyamweya launched a fresh bid seeking to bar the FKF from interfering with KPL matters as he sought an order to block the federation management from interfering with rules and regulations of the top division.

In his response later Tuesday, Nyamweya noted the ‘premeditated decision was made out of malice, bad faith and preposterous intentions’ as he cited the date during which the NEC held its meeting that concluded in the decision to suspend him.

However, FKF Communications and PR Manager Barry Otieno later clarified the date marked ’21st March 2016′ was a typographical error and ought to have been dated a year later.

Nyamweya also denied guilt in the case the FKF accused him for withdrawing money from their accounts as he threatened legal action for ‘character assassination and damages’.

“It is laughable that FKF can suggest that I withdrew any money from their accounts because I have never done it. While this attempt is null and void ab initio, it is unfortunate that they reached this decision without giving me the opportunity to be heard which is against the tenets of fair play and natural justice,” an excerpt from his reply read.