PRESS RELEASE

The letter to KFF Chairman Sambu is below. Attached is the Annex to that letter on “KPL  Agreements made and broken by KFF during 2003-04”.
____________________________

KENYAN PREMIER LEAGUE LTD
Riadha House, Box 5350, Nairobi 00506, Kenya
Tel 254-722-741411 Fax 254-20-583055

January 22, 2005
 
Mr. Alfred Sambu
Chairman
Kenya Football Federation
 
Dear Mr. Sambu,

RE: STATUS OF THE KPL

The text of this letter was approved at the KPL meeting held earlier today.

KPL members are concerned that you publicly questioned the status of our company in the media. For the record, the KPL has been a registered company under the Companies Act of Kenya since October 2003. To date 17 Premier League clubs have fully paid for their shares. Last September 10th Dr. Kipchoge Keino also paid for KPL shares on behalf of KFF.

You have rightly pointed out that the KPL is not in the KFF Constitution now being circulated. However, you have evidently been seriously misinformed and misled on why it is not there. Attached is a sad chronology on the many relevant agreements made and then either ignored or broken by KFF officials over the last two years.

As KFF Normalisation Committee Chairman Kipchoge Keino, Sports Minister Ochillo Ayacko and FIFA Deputy General Secretary Jerome Champagne can confirm, it was agreed during the FIFA missions on November 8th and December 9-10th that the KPL would be renamed the "KFF Premier League Ltd" and be included in the new KFF Constitution. The specific wording of the text on the renamed KPL was approved at the meeting chaired by the Sports Minister on December 9th. Despite those agreements, those who prepared and revised the drafts repeatedly and unfairly left it out.

Regarding the "KFF Premier League Committee" listed under Standing Committees, it was agreed at the meeting chaired by the Minister on December 9th that this would be a committee of KFF and KPL representatives to ensure effective coordination on such matters as the fixtures and referees.

We bring to your attention the serious matter that the Premier League elections on December 28th were not organized or conducted in a fair manner. For example, only a few club Chairmen were present while the Chairmen of other key clubs were either not informed or were misinformed on the time for the meeting. On fairplay grounds, those elections need to be redone.

We also bring to your attention that the meeting with club representatives chaired by KFF Normalisation Committee Secretary Sylvester Ashioya on August 26th agreed that the 2005-06 Premier League will respect the new FIFA guideline and have a maximum of 18 clubs. The relegation/promotion format for achieving that goal was also agreed. At the KPL meeting on August 28th, 19 Premier League clubs endorsed that maximum and the relegation/promotion format. We therefore request you to support and endorse those existing agreements.

Despite the many previous disappointments and broken agreements, we want to emphasize that our clubs still continue to seek constructive dialogue and cooperation. Moreover, we assure you that the KPL will manage the KFF Premier League in a democratic, transparent and effective manner as part of the KFF family so that you can focus more attention on other crucial matters such as strengthening our national teams, managing the Nationwide League, expanding the lower leagues, revitalizing youth and women's football and launching new training programmes for our coaches and referees.

We wish you success in your discussions with FIFA next week and look forward to meeting you on your return.

Yours Sincerely,
Original signed by
Gerishom Kololi
Chairman
 
c.c.  
Dr. Kipchoge Keino, Chairman, National Olympic Committee of Kenya
 Hon. Ochillo Ayacko, Minister of Gender, Sport, Culture and Social Services
 Mr. Jerome Champagne, Deputy General Secretary, FIFA