Caption : FKF President Nick Mwendwa handing the ball to the high priest of graft Deputy President William Ruto at Nairobi’s Kasarani Stadium
Barely a month after he was elected as chairman of the Football Kenya Federation, Nick Mwendwa the young boy from Kariobangi is already bringing the ghetto mentality on a global platform, and repeating the same mistakes as his predecessors did with impunity. Mwendwa who has been spending more time doing media interviews than building football, seems like he’s just another hot-air character who talks big, and delivers nothing.
Indeed, image consultant Derek Bbanga had noted in a 12th March 2016 article appearing on the Standard that Mwendwa cannot command respect because of his shifty dressing, squeaky voice and a seemingly lack of demeanour that befits the title and office he’s occupying.
Today, Nick Mwendwa’s hollow thoughts and nursery-school modus operandi were exposed after he dropped three of Kenya’s best players for to allow two players from his club Kariobangi Sharks join the team. The players are Collins “Gatusso” Okoth, Francis Kahata and Clifford Miheso. This was indeed a slap in the face on the Kenya Premier League (KPL) clubs who sources say that they will consider breaking away from FKF. The Kenya Premier League had out of courtesy and goodwill, postponed their fixtures to give room for Harambee Stars to train and look for a friendly match, something that failed to materialise. Instead Harambee Stars trained with Posta Rangers and lost 0-1.
Beyond the shenanigans of including 19 officials in the travelling squad to Guinea Bissau this morning, most of whom are joyriders like the ones who accompanied Uhuru to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last year, Mwendwa is accused of seeking to reward delegates from Kariobangi, as if they were the only ones who voted for him.
Another sham of an appointment that Mwendwa did an about-turn on, was appointing Willies Ochieng as the goal-keeping coach, an individual who was integral in match-fixing during the Kenya vs Nigeria home game in 2009. He was named in international papers as being a mastermind of match-fixing in Swedish games, during his stint as a player, and he made contact with global match-fixing barons. Does Mwendwa intend to fix matches for financial gain using our National Team?
In the meantime, a photograph of Nick Mwendwa with Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore has met mixed reactions with industry insiders claiming that Mwendwa is using his position to leverage proximity with large telco’s, so as to solicit business for his IT firm Riverbank Solutions. “Mwendwa’s main priority is to grow his Riverbank Solutions and not football” said a source who declined to be named. The photo was not widely circulated as expected, indicating apathy against Bob Collymore and corruption allegations levelled against him as regards to a bogus CCTV deal that saw the Government lose over Kshs. 50 Billion.
Caption : Nick Mwendwa with bogus CCTV grand heist architect Bob-Con-Me-More
This website has consistently covered Bob Collymore as the pinnacle of corporate malaise in Kenya and alarm-bells were immediately set off after Mwendwa posted a photo of him and the crook of a CEO. So from a nobody, Nick Mwendwa has now become a person of interest, as we seek to find out more about his company Riverbank, the deals he does with Governors, his rise from obscurity working as Nyamweya’s player-manager to landing big money deals and the likes. There are indeed many loose ends and holes on Nick Mwendwa’s fairy-tale.
Riverbank IT Solutions which Nick Mwendwa owns was recently in the limelight for being the company that manipulated election-results for the Kericho by-election.
Word also doing rounds is that he has barred his Secretary General Robert Muthomi from handling any cash, after the latter signed a deal with Sport Pesa for his Division 1 club Nakuru All Stars. As it appears, this current FKF office is packed with smooth-talking conmen who are simply in office to make money and help elevate their own clubs. Both Robert Muthomi and Chris Amimo are said to be fronting the interests of two sports agencies; Frontiers Sports owned by former fraudulent pollster Maggie Ireri and Pacific Sports affiliated with an unknown rugby referee Raymond Oruo. Ireri is yet to acquire sponsors for Kenya Rugby Union and Athletics Kenya despite signing with them last year, yet the World Athletics Championships will be held in the country next year.
Nick Mwendwa’s honeymoon may come to an end this week, if Harambee Stars fail to win their forthcoming ties against Guinea Bissau, and a loss will mean that he may exit the position sooner than he expected. He had promised Kenyans the world in his numerous television interviews, but his appointment of little-known Stanley Okumbi as the Harambee Stars coach was an anti-climax to all his big-talk and hot-air like Rugby’s Richard Omwela.
Last week, social-media was awash with vitriol after Harambee Stars lost in a training match with Posta Rangers, which is not even the creme of local football, and now Nick’s only hope remains with foreign-based players like Victor Wanyama. And true to it, he paid business-class tickets for them to fly to Guinea-Bissau in a bid to motivate them for a win. But now, it seems like senior sports journalist have broken ranks with Nick Mwendwa and are now on social media causing ripples about his perceived corruption.
With the kind of stupidity that Nick Mwendwa has started engaging in, it’s now evident why Uhuru appoints retiree’s and sexual deviants like Chris Kirubi in top positions, because young people keep embarassing themselves once they assume top position. Thieves like Bruce Odhiambo, Catherine Namuye and the likes.