Govt non-committal on the resumption of sports
Kenyans may have to wait until June for the resumption of football activities.
President Uhuru Kenyatta suspended all sports activities in the country last March in the wake of an increase in Covid-19 cases and Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa was hoping that decision will soon be overturned, especially after a majority of the athletes received their first vaccination dose from the government.
But that may not be the case.
“As it stands, it seems the government will not okay the return of football soon,” Mwendwa told Goal.
“We have engaged them (government) but from the look of things, the clearance might take time. We will have to wait until the end of May. That is my realistic target.”
Sports CS Amina Mohamed has also been non-committal on the resumption of sports activities, hinting in past interviews that the Ministry of Health has the final say on this matter.
Mwendwa further adds he will have to devise ways to prepare the men and women national teams for the forthcoming international assignments considering most of the players are currently not active.
“We now have to devise ways of preparing for the men’s (2022) World Cup qualifiers in June and the women matches as well. Kenya has a chance of qualifying for the World Cup considering our group and we are exploring several options to make sure our players come to camp to prepare for the matches.”
The men’s national team has been pooled alongside Uganda, Rwanda and Mali in the World Cup qualifiers while the women team was slated to face Zambia in an international friendly.