NAIROBI, May 28 — Tuesday’s news of Kenya being dismissed from the qualifiers of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations has only sparked limited discussion in a country that has a big passion for its national football team.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the decision to lock out Kenya and Zimbabwe from the qualifiers due to the two countries’ suspensions from international football.
CAF had included them in the official draw earlier in April 2022 on the condition that the suspension must be lifted two weeks before their first matchday.
However, the suspension had not been lifted two weeks before the first match on June 1.
With Kenya sitting out, Cameroon, Namibia and Burundi will vie for two slots to make the tournament finals from Group C, a pool that the East Africans had hoped to progress from and return to the competition for the first time since their 2019 finals appearance in Egypt.
The development has not elicited strong reactions from the local public, reflecting the growing frustration with the latest administrative crisis in the sport.
Since November 2021, Kenyan football has been under the management of first a caretaker committee, and now a transition committee appointed by the government, after the Cabinet Secretary for Sport disbanded the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) executive.
Ousted FKF president Nick Mwendwa was then arrested twice within a week to face charges of corruption and misuse of public funds before he stepped down from his position on November 30.
In March, football’s world governing body FIFA slapped an indefinite suspension on Kenya, citing political interference in the running of the sport.
“There are not enough inspirational stories on Kenyan football in recent times. For the past five years, Kenyan football has been through below-par results, legal battles, squabbles between administrators and government and embarrassing player welfare,” David Kwalimwa, a journalist with the Nairobi-based Daily Nation newspaper, told Xinhua on Wednesday about the lukewarm response to the expulsion from the AFCON qualifiers.
“Kenyan football fans have lost hope in the game. There’s nothing worthy to look forward to other than the constant squabbles, back and forth and court battles. Nothing surprises them anymore really”.
“The ban was long overdue,” Jeff Kinyanjui, an online sports editor with Mozzart Sports Kenya added.
The transitional committee appointed by the government on May 13 to run the game for five weeks declined a request for comment on the AFCON 2023 disqualification, saying the issue regarding the lifting of the international suspension was a matter between the government and FIFA.
Sources said that a budget for the national men’s and women’s teams to feature in AFCON and Africa Women’s Cup of Nations qualifiers had been set aside, but following the disqualification, funds will not be released.
With no foreseeable end to the suspension, some stakeholders in the country’s football are hoping the international isolation will give Kenya a chance to clean up its act.
“Kenyan fans were hoping the government will, as promised, use this suspension period to sort out these issues,” Kwalimwa offered.
Others maintain continued government involvement in the running of the sport will only worsen matters, calling for all involved to seek a negotiated solution as recommended by FIFA.
“Even the people who were in support of what the government was trying to do have now started developing cold feet. The sooner the government stops wasting time trying to run FKF the better. If the issue is a few individuals at the top, then the government knows what to do to remove them. There is no need to waste resources that they can otherwise use to build sports infrastructure,” Kinyanjui said.
With social media now a major gauge of public opinion in the country, disqualification from the AFCON 2023 qualifiers did not trend on any of the popular networks through Tuesday and Wednesday. (Xinhua)
Kenyans’ limp reaction to AFCON 2023 disqualification signals frustration
