Nicholas Musonye: Why his entry into FKF presidency race is like shooting in the dark

For starters, let us remind ourselves that Nicholas Musonye is a former sports journalist at Kenya Times and later Daily Nation, a man whose time at CECAFA ended recently.



When Cyrus Jirongo, then Chairman of the notorious YK 92 recruited him into the organization, he lost his job at the Daily Nation, sacked along with other journalists at the newspaper, who were KANU sympathizers.



After being sacked from Daily Nation, then Kenya Football Federation Secretary General Sammy Obingo, who also served as CECAFA Secretary General recruited him at the CECAFA secretariat as office administrator.



Obingo later lost to Peter Kenneth in the KFF elections for the seat of chairman, in 1996 when Sam Nyamweya was elected Secretary General after trouncing Vincent Radido, while former FIFA referee Job Omogo was elected national Treasurer after incumbent Noordin Taib.



When Kenyans and CECAFA members called for the removal of Obingo and Musonye from their positions in CECAFA so that Nyamweya could take over and appoint a new office administrator, Nyamweya declined and instead convinced the KFF National Executive Committee to support Obingo and Musonye respectively.



Leading CECAFA members



The decision was also supported by then powerful CAF referees committee chairman – the late Farah Adoh. The duo had Nyamweya to thank for saving them from the ouster.



Obingo would later fall out with former CAF President lssah Hayatou for leading CECAFA members to support Sepp Blatter for the FIFA Presidency, in 1998, at a time Hayatou was rallying CAF members to support Blatter’s opponent Johansen – then UEFA President. Obingo was banned by CAF and Nyamweya automatically replaced him in CECAFA.



Nyamweya retained Musonye as office administrator and groomed him for future leadership in CECAFA.



Being ambitious and crafty, Musonye navigated his way within CECAFA to the point of attracting the attention of Farah, having mastered the art of survival in football politics through backstabbing.



Then came Maina Kariuki, taking over from Peter Kenneth in KFF after making a myriad of unattainable promises made together with former District Commissioner – Hassan Haji, who replaced Nyamweya, who opted not to defend his seat.



Haji automatically replaced Nyamweya in CECAFA.



Musonye’s chance came after Haji, who was then a civil servant in the capacity of under-secretary, was forced to relinquish his KFF and CECAFA positions.



Farah, whose word was law in African football then, went ahead to single-handedly appoint Musonye acting CECAFA Secretary General and, in KFF, came in the late Hussein Swaleh as SG.



Soon after, Farah ordered the confirmation of Musonye as CECAFA SG in total disregard of CECAFA Constitution, which required that for one to hold position of chairman or secretary general in CECAFA; they must hold a top position in their home federation. Musonye was not and had never held any elected position in KFF.



Youth development, governance agenda



Enough of history. Let me now pen my thoughts as to why Musonye is not fit to replace Nick Mwendwa as FKF President.



In a recent interview with NTV, where he announced his candidature, Musonye – often in arrogant display of bravado as having served CECAFA for more than two decades – said his main agenda was youth development and governance.



When former Harambee Stars captain MacDonald Mariga was sponsored by Deputy President William Ruto to vie for the Kibra constituency by-election following the death of Ken Okoth; the electorate simply asked Mariga to show what he had done to develop football in the country.



It turned out that throughout his entire professional football career, Mariga had never built even a single football academy and had never set foot in the Kibra slums even to build a pit latrine.



Musonye is very welcome to join the race but, just like Mariga, he must show Kenyans his track record from his time at CECAFA.



He cannot talk of youth development when he cannot show a single football academy he has helped build in the country or in his own village in Kakamega County – using CECAFA’s or his own money.



So how does a man who never used his position in CECAFA for 20 years talk about developing youth football in Kenya? How can a man who never goes to the grassroots to watch football or mingle with officials and players talk about developing youth football? One who never goes to the stadium to watch league matches or tournaments claim he has what it takes to run and manage local football?



Favouring other countries



Musonye’s position in CECAFA only benefited him and his relatives, tribesmen and friends; Kenya as a country never got anything. In fact, it is on record that Musonye frustrated Kenyan teams during CECAFA tournaments and at times locked them out for flimsy reasons even after flying all the way from Nairobi to the venue.



He has been accused, perhaps rightly so, of favouring teams from other countries.



Regarding governance, there is nothing Musonye can teach Kenyan football stakeholders about governance in football, not even transparency. Not when it is obvious that in CECAFA it was a one-man show.



All the years Musonye has been in CECAFA, he had no deputy and no functional secretariat – he was everything in CECAFA. Word has it that he spent the past few years enriching himself so that he can contest the Kakamega Gubernatorial seat come 2022.



That Kenyan youth, Kenyan football and Kenya as a country never benefited anything from Musonye or from CECAFA makes Musonye the wrong person to replace Nick Mwendwa as FKF President.



For the record and as far as my memory bears me witness, Musonye’s 20 years at CECAFA show no single publication of public audited accounts yet the body receives millions of shillings from FIFA, CAF and several sponsors; some whose names and donations are only known by Musonye.



He neither resigned nor stepped down as CECAFA SG – he was sacked, leaving the organisation worse than he found it; having reduced it to a governing body to merely organizing tournaments.



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