Football stakeholders have registered their ire at Tuesday’s decision by Kenya Power and Lighting Company to stop there sponsorships of football activities.
“We the football stakeholders were taken aback by the announcement by Kenya Power and Lighting Company that they were withdrawing sponsorship from three of its football teams participating in the Kenyan Premier League and the second tier league the National Super League, citing adverse business environment owing to - COVID-19 pandemic,” opened the statement.
“Without doubt Kenya power and Lighting Company has consistently and over the years supported football through the innovative Charity Cup and by sponsoring their own branded football teams. The withdrawal of a trusted partner like Kenya Power is devastating to the football pyramid and the consequences far-reaching .”
The immediate casualties are Western Stima, who has been consistent and posted good results over the years in the Kenyan Premier League. The other casualties are the National Super League sides Nairobi Stima, who finished fourth and their sister club, Coast Stima who finished seventh in the 2019/2020 season.
“The investment made by Kenya Power and Lighting Company over the years in building such strong football brands should not be left to go down to waste and urgent and strategic intervention is of necessity,” said a statement by the stakeholders led by former Football Kenya Federation president Sam Nyamweya.
He proposed that Kenya Power considers reverting Coast Stima to its original status as a community club based in Mombasa and revert back to its previous name Coast United FC.
“The County Government of Mombasa through His Excellency Governor Ali Joho should consider sponsoring Coast United which, for all intents and purpose, represents the football face of the coastal community and specifically that of Mombasa and without prejudice to Bandari FC and Modern Cast Rangers equally teams from Mombasa County,” they suggested.
They further opined that the County Government of Nairobi should consider adopting, sponsoring and rebranding Nairobi Stima to Nairobi County FC and that Western Stima FC, whose name connotes close association with western region counties, though in practice Western Stima is a Kisumu-based team, considers relocating to the North Rift Region and be adopted, sponsored and rebranded by either Uasin Gishu, Trans Nzoia , Nandi or Elgeyo Marakwet counties.
