NAIROBI, 3 June 2004 — Kenya were handed an indefinite ban from all international competition by football’s world governing body FIFA yesterday.
The suspension, handed down by FIFA’s Emergency Committee 72 hours before Kenya were due to play a 2006 World Cup qualifier against Guinea, follows the Kenya government’s refusal to reinstate the Kenyan Football Federation (KFF).
The government dissolved the KFF over claims of corruption in March and replaced it with an interim Stakeholders Transition Committee (STC), ahead of new elections which have yet to be held.
Despite the sanction Kenyan sports minister Najib Balala insisted he would stick to his timetable of restoring order to the sport, even though FIFA rejects all government intervention in KFF affairs.
“It is a sad day for Kenya,” a fuming Balala told a press conference here, blaming FIFA and the suspended KFF officials for colluding to destroy the game in the country.
“The KFF and FIFA are jointly to blame. They are not helping football in this country. There is no justification in taking this decision when they have blatantly refused to listen to our part of the story,” he said.
“They have openly sided with the suspended officials who have vested interests above their country. These are the same people who have lobbied against their motherland to be banned,” he added.
While FIFA has called for three party talks to resolve the crisis, Balala said, he had instructed the transitional committee to fast track on the transformation process before fresh elections are held at the end of June.
He said he had instructed the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission (KACC) unit to arrest and prosecute the suspended officials for their role in the mismanagement of football in the country.
Guinean players and officials meanwhile packed their bags and left for home last night following the ban imposed on their first opponents in the qualifying campaign leading to a place in the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.
