Back in 2001 before the general elections, the Kenyan opposition was bitterly divided between NAK and the Rainbow coalition. A local editorial headlined "The opposition should unite or stop wasting our time". The message was clear. Kenyans were no longer interested in voting for a fractured opposition as it would have been a waste of time. We had already been down that path twice. A divided opposition had already lost to KANU in 1992 and 1997. Opposition leaders got the message, united and successfully ended KANU's stranglehold on the Presidency.

Kenyan  officials are always fighting amongst themselves for a chance to loot KFF coffers

As of December 2006, Kenyan football fraternity finds itself in a similar situation. There is a bitter leadership struggle between officials aligned to the KPL and those aligned to the KFF-PL. This bitter power struggle has caused the game to come to a standstill. League matches have been delayed for months and fans have quit the local game in droves.

The biggest losers in this standstill are the players who have lost income and the possibility of bettering their careers by moving abroad. Players have only a limited amount of time to cash in on their talents. And in Kenya's case, they have precious few opportunities to impress foreign scouts. Fans for their part have tuned out of the local games. The stadia have been abandoned. Some of these fans may never return having become hooked on the EPL. The fact that these power struggles are literally killing the game does not seem to matter to these officials. Once they destroy the game, they can always return to their personal business. the players meanwhile have no recourse. Kenya is now in danger of being banned from the 2010 World cup and Africa cup which means we will go four years without International football. .

In these power struggles, the players loose while the officials who have destroyed them can quit the game and move on with their personal businesses after having destroyed the livelihood of players.

Players like Patrick Oboya have the potential to further their careers abroad but as long as Kenya remains banned, they are doomed

It is apparent that some officials are jockeying for positions so that they can cash in on any benefits that may acrue from the 2010 world cup. Perhaps they may get some free tickets or perhaps some financial benefits. But if Kenya is banned from South Africa 2010, then all their selfish efforts will be for nought

How can we end these power struggles occurring ?

1. The KFF constitution must be amended urgently to forbid officials from going to court to gain power. Kenyan judges are prone to bribery and cannot be counted on to make judgments that benefit the game. We saw in 2001 how Justice Kuloba kept the incredibly corrupt Maina Kariuki in power despite the fact that he was literally suffocating the game with his corruption.

2. Community clubs must be asked to reform or perish. The days of fighting relegation in the boardroom are must end. Alfred Sambu did absolutely nothing to help AFC Leopards while they were languishing at the bottom of the league yet when they were relegated, he tried to abuse his power as KFF chairman to stave off relegation. Fans are increasingly finding it impossible to invest their emotions and support in a team that is so poorly and incompetently run.

Fans must push for their officials to get into the 21st century and adopt modern managerial methods that emphasize financial accountability, marketing, and public relations. Officials such as Erastus Okul must cease running the club in a secretive mafia like way This only serves to alienate fans. Instead Okul must start wooing new fans to the club. Most importantly, these clubs must create new progressive constitutions, hold elections and appoint competent professionals to run the club. Club officials and fans must realize that hooliganism dissuades sponsors from associating with the game and discourages neutral fans from attending matches, thus creating a loss of revenue. Fans must realize that when their team looses, the officials especially the chairman is to blame. League officials must hold biased referees accountable .

For the sake of attracting sponsors and new fans, hooliganism must be made a thing of the past

Shabana Chairman, Sam Nyamweya (left) must bring Shabana into the 21st century if he expects it to survive

3. Its time for a fresh set of faces at the KPL board of directors. Those who are polarizing figures must be asked to step aside for the sake of the game. You cannot have people who created bad feelings running the league and expect other clubs to join in.  Jack Oguda with his incredibly huge ego must be asked to step aside so that compromise and a middle ground can be found between KPL and KFF-PL affiliated clubs. 

4. KPL officials must rid themselves of the idea that they have to destroy community clubs in order for football to flourish.  Many KPL officials have openly said that the demise of community clubs will herald a new era of professionalism for Kenya football. Part of this hostility towards community clubs is due to resentment caused by ethnicity.   Since KPL officials are scheming to destroy community clubs, there is plenty of mistrust and most community teams do not want to play in a league that is run by this group of KPL officials. Which is why it is important that a new set of impartial officials are charged with the responsibility of running the league. Its fair to say that Gor Mahia were singled out for punishment last year. Several teams caused abandonments. One teams players even went as far as breaking a referee's hand. But no punishments were meted out to these other teams.

5. Fans should cease supporting any of these factions. They ought to realize that these power struggles will never cease and neither side will register a decisive victory. Kenya football cannot survive without government support. But it also cannot survive without FIFA's blessing. Therefore pitting the government against FIFA is counterproductive. Football will thrive only when both FIFA and the government are in sync. Compromise is therefore needed so that everyone is reading from the same hymn book. We must favor those officials who seek a common ground. Extremists who take hard-line positions such as Jack Oguda and Erastus Okul must be shunned. Nobody wins in such power games. Only the players and fans lose.

6. Clubs especially KPL affiliated clubs must realize that parallel leagues will get us nowhere. The media have already announced that they will not cover any parallel leagues. Fans will not waste any time going to watch any league matches whose results may later be declared null. But most importantly fans are getting more and more fatigued by these power struggles and are leaving the local game in droves. Many may never return. A new generation of youngsters is growing up obsessed with the EPL and having absolutely no interest in local football. The fan base is rapidly dwindling.

Parallel leagues are doomed to play to empty stadia with no press coverage and zero fan interest.

In summary, we the fans must stop taking sides in these power struggles. They will never be resolved until a middle ground is found. Lets encourage these officials to sit down and find an amicable long lasting solution. Let us allow a new set of impartial officials to run the league. If necessary, an independent arbiter must be found to resolve the situation.

7. We must support Minister Maina Kamanda in his efforts to restore sanity. Only he can do this. FIFA have no solutions other than banning us. The courts and the judges are completely clueless and are only interested in finding legal technicalities that have absolultely nothing with benefiting the game. Kamanda may be ill informed on some issues but his heart is in the right place. Lets not forget that he staved off land grabbing at Kasarani. By his actions, it is apparent that he really wants to rid the game of corruption in order to give the youth a chance. Kamanda in turn must be fair and deal impartially with all stakeholders. He should avoid taking sides on this issue. Both sets of officials need to be held accountable. Most importantly, Kamanda must put in place structures that will prevent these problems from re-occurring in the future. He must ask self supported clubs to reform or perish. We the fans are still waiting for the much vaunted sports policy document.