FKF softens hardline stance on top flight league
The first signs of a truce between the two warring football parties emerged on Monday when Football Kenya Federation (FKF) welcomed the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) Limited to the negotiating table in a bid to find a way out of the long standing impasse that has seen both factions run separate leagues.
The KPL Governing Council and the FKF National Executive Committee held separate meetings on Monday, and sources revealed to Nairobi News that the world governing body Fifa has issued stern orders to the national football administrators to withdraw the court case stopping KPL from running the top-flight league.
“KPL has written about nine letters to Fifa telling them about the goings-on in the country, the last one being about the court injunction ordering them against the running the national league. They replied through a letter on Wednesday last week, but we are yet to see it,” a member of the KPL governing council, who spoke on condition of anonymity told Nairobi News.
“During our meeting, however, we were informed that Fifa has ordered FKF to withdraw their court case against us. We were also told that Fifa wants the company to continue running the 16-team league as per Robert Niemann’s recommendations,” the source added.
FIFA’S INSTRUCTIONS
But FKF, while addressing this matter, denied having possession of such a letter and remained adamant that they will not withdraw the court injunction whatsoever.
“We are treating that as a mere rumor. There is no such letter and we shall not withdraw the court case. Why should we?” FKF media liaison John Kariuki said.
It is worth noting, however, that this is not the first time FKF is denying receipt of such stern instructions from the world governing body.
The football authorities also hid a report by Fifa’s Niemann recommending that they allow KPL to continue running the league until three weeks later when Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario intervened on the matter.
It remains to be seen how much longer they will feign ignorance about this matter, although there are reports that they are contemplating on withdrawing the court case on Tuesday morning in respect to Fifa’s instructions.