WHO WILL BAIL OUT KENYAN FOOTBALL?

WHO WILL BAIL OUT KENYAN FOOTBALL?

By Collins Ogolla

@gentlenique

Gor Mahia are the Dstv Super Cup champions, the curtain raiser to the league. That is what is up.

There has been a struggle as to who is mandated to run football in Kenya which culminated into FIFA consultants visiting Kenya and holding a meeting with both KPL and FKF officials to solve the impasse. Among the recommendations of the consultative meeting was that the league in Kenya be comprised of 16 teams and that FIFA will support its affiliate federation only if it is doing the right thing(s).

Despite all these both FKF and KPL have stood their ground and have gone as far as releasing their separate fixtures with FKF factoring in 18 clubs while KPL maintaining 16 clubs. FIFA president has called for a quick solution to this stand off or else Kenya face international ban. This makes me and the entire football community fret. It has been a steady rise for football in Kenya in the recent years that the news of a ban is not what most fans and genuine football stakeholders will not want to hear.

Football in Kenya was for a very long time in comatose until KPL emerged. They managed to rope in Supersport to televise the games and local radio stations followed suit in popularizing the local game to football fans who had fallen out of love with the local game preferring European football instead. Together they managed to bring back the fervor once witnessed in the heydays of Kenyan football domination with fans trooping back to the stadia in numbers.

It has been a herculean task which has taken the sweat out of most football stakeholders to bring back Kenya into the football map. The hitherto popular Tusker Premier League has managed to export its products every year with the exposure occasioned by live transmission of matches as a major factor. David Owino, Teddy Akumu, Francis Kahata, Paul Were, Allan Wanga, Peter Opiyo, Clifton Miheso have been some of the most notable beneficiaries of the professionalization of football in Kenya of late. We have also managed to attract footballers from far and wide countries with Uganda being the outright beneficiary.

We have come a long way to throw our hard earned efforts into oblivion and start all over again. Sobriety, voice of reason and love for the game should take precedence to solve this stalemate. Many souls depend on football in Kenya and if we attract a ban then thousands of people ploughing their livelihood through football are going to suffer.

Why don’t we borrow a leaf from other football associations who are doing well in the running of their games? Bundesliga stands out in this respect. They are in the top three leagues in Europe and have huge commercial revenue but still they have maintained a lean league of only 16 clubs. Our Southern counterparts, South Africa also boost a total of 16 teams despite their relatively huge commercial income. English premier league have just signed a humongous TV rights deal in the tune of 5 billion pounds but there is no talks of expanding the league because of this revenue windfall.

It begs the question, is money the only thing that determines successful management of football? Obviously not. There are very many factors that come in no matter how negligible they may be.

 If the visit of FIFA president Sepp Blatter comes to fruition, I sincerely hope that it comes with the blessing of sorting this mess we are staring at.

MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY ON THE BRINK

MULTIMEDIA UNIVERSITY: IS IT WORTH THE PAIN? A STUDENT’S VIEW

By Gentle Nique (0722 396028)

Multimedia University is on strike and students have been given fifteen minutes to clear from their premises is what hit me as I headed for school this morning.

De ja vu? Exactly. It is barely two years since I joined the school and I have already experienced two strikes.

The first strike happened in June and the news got me in the same way as this one. I was away minding a very important business in Kenyatta University when on my way back to school I heard touts and passengers talking about Multimedia University students having gone on strike.

The first strike was occasioned by a draconian policy borne from poor management. The policy of paying 100% fees on the first day in school did not pass the test of logic. Students wondered what the school was up to with most being self sponsored who pay fees to the tune of Kshs. 85, 000. Even in leading universities like University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University this is not the case. Students are given at least a month to clear their balance.

Students tried to reason with the management to reconsider their stance but all fell on deaf ears. The students staring into bleak future after exhausting dialogue were left with no option but to call on the use of force. This was the only way the dictatorial management was going to give reasoning a chance.

The management buckled at the pressure and introduced a new policy where students are not allowed to sit for examination without clearing their fees balance. Despite this policy, students were still hunted from lecture halls and sent home more often than not. You were left to wonder whether you made a mistake of enrolling in another secondary school after completing your four years in high school.

Fast forward, the state of management has not improved. In fact it has deteriorated to its nadir. Some administrators are arrogant while some have ‘I do not care’ attitude. Service delivery is at its lowest point. Lecturers are rarely in class, pavilion is pathetically run with students shoving every time to access meals, the state of ablutions in the hostels is terrible and internet connection is wanting despite students paying huge levies for the same.

In the first strike all students were forced to pay for the damages even when most of them were not in school then. This left many students bitter and parents disillusioned.  Despite the charges not any development happened in the school with only noticeable change being some administrators growing their ‘vitambis’.

This time round it was because of electricity which was being repaired by the school not being put back in place on time as promised. It was callous for the first year students to strike but this was because of stored up anger over incompetent and arrogant management and lastly because of inefficient service delivery.

I do not, in any way, support strikes but even if a saint was to school at this university, he will be left with no choice but to go on the rampage.

For how long do you expect students to stomach such inefficiency and apparent lack of interest in their welfare when only what the management is concerned with is money which is never invested in their welfare after being collected?

The Ministry of Education through the Cabinet Secretary needs to move swiftly and conduct an audit on this school before push turns into shove.

No wonder students have coined a name for the university from its acronym M.M.U: Money Minded University.