By Cheti Praxides
@ppcheti
Police on Thursday dispersed a rowdy crowd following a disagreement on who would officiate a football match at the Twaif Grounds in Lamu Island.
Trouble started when Football Kenya Federation officials physically and verbally confronted each other.
The FKF Lamu office has been marred with leadership wrangles over the past years.
The match between AC Milan and Kipungani was eventually canceled due to the standoff.
Branch secretary Hussein Miji said some officials had secretly organised the match without following FKF regulations.
“Our treasurer Mohamed Hamza has been going round engaging in secret deals with various sponsors without consultations and following due process. There has been no transparency in all this. That's why we are here to stop any matches that don’t meet standards,” Miji said.
Hamza denied any wrongdoing.
Hussein Ibrahim, a football coach, called for the disbandment of the office and subsequent elections. He claimed there was corruption.
“They claim the erection of a perimetre was around Twaif Grounds cost Sh8 million. That's a lie because we can all see nothing was done,” Ibrahim said.
Coach Abbas Fadhil said it was unfortunate that Lamu clubs don’t benefit from the contributions made to the local office due to corruption.
Hamza said he was not given the respect due to a treasurer of the federation.
“I have the capacity to make certain decisions without having to ask anybody but the only problem is that some people don’t like that fact. I don’t understand why all the anger and bile. I am just doing my job,” Hamza said.
All the FKF officials were asked to record statements at the Lamu police station over the fracas.
No one was injured.
This isn’t the first time police have to intervene and disperse a rowdy football crowd at the same grounds.
In December 2018, police lobbed teargas canisters at rowdy football fans who disrupted a match after their team was beaten during Maulid Cup finals.
The match was between Monaco FC and Deep Sea FC.
edited by peter obuya
