Ivory Coast’s OB van is delivered as Kenyans continue to wait

The Ivory Coast Football Association last week announced that they had bought their Outside Broadcasting Van popularly known as the OB van with funds that they had been advanced by world football governing body FIFA.



The move has now sparked questions amongst Kenyans on the whereabouts of the same facility the Football Kenya Federation purchased about four years ago at Ksh. 135 million.



FKF had in 2016 endorsed the decision to buy the van with millions of shillings that FIFA had given to them as annual grants for football development in the country.



The deal to buy the van was brokered when then FKF president Nick Mwendwa chaired a meeting comprising his then Chief Executive Robert Muthomi and the National Executive Committee (NEC), the federation’s top decision making organ.



The officials unanimously agreed that the facility would come in handy since South African owned Pay-Tv channel Supersport had stopped airing Kenyan Premier League matches at about that time.



The proposal was approved by Fifa who consequently disbursed the required funds, the OB van was then ‘acquired’ and dispatched to the federation.



However, in a strange twist of events, the van was reportedly ‘repossessed’ by Supersport which had sold it to the federation.Last Saturday Mwendwa however maintained that the van would be delivered since it was already paid for with the contracted company whom he noted were facing some issues.



Until then it remains to be seen whether the van will finally find its way home or it will continue being a game of musical chairs.