Kenyan sports minister berates feuding officials

NAIROBI – Kenya’s sports minister yesterday rebuked feuding football officials for hurting the sport after a dispute in the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) turned violent this week with an attack on two board members.

“Such confrontations have not helped to develop soccer,” Ochilo Ayacko said after KFF acting general secretary Titus Kasuve and second vice chairman Erastus Okul were attacked on Monday by youths armed with metal bars and machetes. “They discourage sponsors and they negate all the efforts of instilling discipline among soccer players,” he said in an angry statement, noting that the attack occurred as Kenya prepared for Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Tunisia.”When your national team is going to play a crucial fixture like this one facing the Harambee Stars, with all the attendant odds, the last thing one would expect is an attack on the federation officials,” Ayacko said.”We cannot allow such hooliganism to creep into the management of football.”Kasuve and Okul suffered head and hand injuries at the hands of a gang allegedly affiliated with rival board members when they returned to the KFF offices at Nyayo National Stadium after seeing the Kenyan team off for their match in Rades.On Wednesday, Okul remained in a Nairobi hospital while Kasuve was discharged.Police said they had still not arrested anyone for the attack.The pair had opposed the appointment last week of Moni Wekesa as the new KFF general secretary.Wekesa had been named to the post by international auditors KPMG under an arrangement with football’s world governing body Fifa aimed at ending persistent scandals and corruption allegations in the Kenyan federation.-Nampa-AFP”They discourage sponsors and they negate all the efforts of instilling discipline among soccer players,” he said in an angry statement, noting that the attack occurred as Kenya prepared for Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier against Tunisia.”When your national team is going to play a crucial fixture like this one facing the Harambee Stars, with all the attendant odds, the last thing one would expect is an attack on the federation officials,” Ayacko said.”We cannot allow such hooliganism to creep into the management of football.”Kasuve and Okul suffered head and hand injuries at the hands of a gang allegedly affiliated with rival board members when they returned to the KFF offices at Nyayo National Stadium after seeing the Kenyan team off for their match in Rades.On Wednesday, Okul remained in a Nairobi hospital while Kasuve was discharged.Police said they had still not arrested anyone for the attack.The pair had opposed the appointment last week of Moni Wekesa as the new KFF general secretary.Wekesa had been named to the post by international auditors KPMG under an arrangement with football’s world governing body Fifa aimed at ending persistent scandals and corruption allegations in the Kenyan federation.-Nampa-AFP