Special probe report reveals Ksh.550 million allocated to FKF unaccounted for

Embattled Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa will be back at the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) headquarters on Saturday for more questioning.

His woes were further complicated by damning findings of an inspection committee constituted by Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed to investigate FKF’s financial status.

The committee’s preliminary report revealed that over Ksh.550 million allocated to FKF as grants from the national government could not be accounted for.

Other than fictitious withdrawals of Ksh.29.5 million within a month and the questionable transfer of Ksh.8.5 million to Mwendwa’s private bank accounts between March and May this year, the inspection committee reported that there were no available documents to support expenditure of Ksh.513 million between December 18, 2017 and October 13, 2021.

The report drafted by the 11-member inspection committee chaired by Micheal Kimoko and submitted to CS Amina could bring to an abrupt end Mwendwa’s tenure at the helm of the country’s football governing body.

From the onset, the committee reported resistance and non-cooperation from the federation’s Chief Executive Officer Barry Otieno, who insisted that FKF was a private entity and therefore not subject to government policies and procedures.

The inspection team, in its report, indicated that it was denied hard copies of the federation’s books of accounts, and forced to view bank statements and cash books through FKF’s laptop.

The committee in its probe, established that FKF under Mwendwa had 14 different bank accounts, and cited duplication, since some of the account names in different banks were serving similar purposes.

Other than Mwendwa, those listed as authorised signatories for the 14 federation bank accounts are Christine Akumu Ojude, Barry Omondi Otieno, Chris Amino and Doris Petra.

In total, the inspection committee reported that upto Ksh.551.9 million in grants from the national government to the football federation could not be accounted for.

Among the expenditure queries raised by the inspection committee is what it termed fictitious withdrawals between April and May this year, amounting to Ksh.29.5 million made by Peter Kipchirchir.

The committee also questioned transfer of Ksh.8.5 million from FKF’s accounts to Mwendwa’s private bank accounts between March 4 and May 15 this year.

The embattled FKF president and his team also pressed to explain how the federation spent Ksh.513.9 million allocated as grants from the Sports ministry from 2017.

Among the questionable expenditure listed by the inspection committee in its report include Ksh.218.8 million allocated to facilitate Harambee Stars during the 2019 Africa Cup of nations tournament.

There is also Ksh.40 million channeled to the federation to fund CECAFA tournament in November and December 2017.

Another Ksh.27.9 million allocated to sponsorship of Harambee Starlets participation in CECAFA championships could not be accounted for according to the inspection team.

The committee also reported unaivailability of documents to account for Ksh.25.7 million allocated to facilitation of Harambee Stars AFCON qualifier match against Ghana.

Similar, observations were made in relation to Ksh.22.8 million for sponsorship of Harambee Stars matches against Swaziland and Equitorial Guinea.

Mwendwa’s team was also required to explain how a Ksh.20 million grant to host the CECAFA tournament in November and December 2017 was utilized.

Similar questions posed on the Ksh.16.9 million allocated to facilitate the national women’s team home and away matches against Equitorial Guinea, as well as Ksh.15.9 million sponsorship of the under 20 men national team’s home and away matches against Rwanda.

Another significant expenditure raised by the inspection team is Ksh.13.4 million funding of Harambee Stars qualifier match against Uganda in 2018.

The inspection committee recommended that no new bank accounts should be opened by FKF unless authorised by the caretaker committee chaired by retired Judge Aaron Ringera.

The Sports ministry was also advised not to release any more funds to the football federation until all previous allocations were fully accounted for.