Petra enumerates FKF strides in referees’ development

Speaking ahead of the upcoming FKF elections scheduled for this Saturday, December 7, Petra, who is in the race to succeed the current FKF president Nick Mwendwa, enumerated the gains made and committed to continue with the upward trajectory once elected to head the Kenyan FA.

Petra is deputizing his current boss Mwendwa in the polls that has attracted eight candidates.

"Our efforts in developing match officials have yielded positive results, significantly increasing the number of FIFA accredited referees in the country," Petra said.

"While challenges remain, we are actively working to improve referee enumeration and elevate the overall standard of officiating," Petra added.

Petra noted that during the stint with Mwendwa FKF has created a robust referees department which is headed by a FIFA accredited referee Silvester Kirwa as the referees manager.

Under this leadership, Petra says Kenya has managed to increase the number of FIFA referees from six to 16 while Kenya now has referees who are competent across all levels of officiating.

"We have done well in the area of referees (development) because we have a robust referees’ department headed by a FIFA referee (Silvester Kirwa) and also his deputy is a FIFA referee. During this time, the number of FIFA accredited referees in Kenya has increased to 16 and when we came in we only had about six so the results are there to be seen," she added.

"We have done well in capacity building for our referees across all counties and this has increased the number of qualified referees across the country. We have had challenges in giving our referees better remuneration and timely payments.

“We acknowledge this challenge and I undertake to solve it within the systems that we have put in place as well as seeking strategic partners to improve the payment packages for our referees.”

Petra noted that besides the regular Physical Endurance Training (PET) and training for them to become referees that Kenya's referees, there is need to give them workshops on integrity to change the perception and make them better even in society.

"We also need to educate the coaches and club officials on matters of football so that we can reduce the altercations between them and referees," Petra said.