Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has asked Parliament to enact laws that criminalize match-fixing.
In his submissions to National Assembly’s Sports and Culture Committee, FKF President Nick Mwendwa said the absence of local laws to address match-fixing led to the rise of cases involving the vice.
“We have cases where individuals suspected of match-fixing and who are not members of FKF arrested and presented in a court of law only for the cases to be dismissed for lack of legislative provisions to deal with the problem,” he told MPs.
He added that inadequate financial resources at both club and federation levels made teams and match officials become vulnerable to match-fixing gangs.
He further added that there was a need for FKF and the Ministry of Sports to carry out sensitization programs to curb the vice.
Mwendwa told the committee the federation has so far, since November 2022, suspended 17 players and three match officials as investigations continue on allegations of match-fixing.
Committee chair Dan Wanyama said there was an urgent need to enact laws to punish match-fixing to save the sport.
“Let them be taken to court and face charges similar to bribing,” he stated.
On March 11, a Kenyan and two foreigners were nabbed in a house raid in Zimmerman over allegations of match-fixing.
The suspects were accused of intending to influence a Kenyan Premier League match involving two clubs that afternoon.
The trio had allegedly approached some players to help them execute their plan but the footballers set them up.
Claims of match-fixing have been rife in Kenya.
On February 8, FKF launched a probe against two players over similar claims.
The players have since been suspended by their clubs.
In February 2021, a Ugandan was arrested at a Kisumu hotel for allegedly trying to fix the FKF-PL match.
The alarm was raised leading to the arrests but the suspects were later freed without being charged.
