Gishinga Njoroge
12 October 2008
Conakry — Sports Minister Hellen Sambili said the Government will be on top of the game right from the start of Harambee Stars' final phase of the 2010 World Cup/African Nations Cup qualifiers whose countdown kicked off immediately by the conclusion of the first round matches on Sunday.
She is in Guinea to see the Kenyan national team in action against Guinea on Sunday night.
Harambee Stars qualification means a huge amount of work and investment in next year's six matches for a place in the Nations Cup finals in Angola and the World Cup in South Africa.
The Herculean achievement of going through the first round defied huge odds and much of the good work can be attributed to the incredibly self-assured players, coach Francis Kimanzi and the management of the Kenyan Premier League Limited, who underwrote the team's expenses during crucial five matches.
The Government came in with the most visible assistance for the last match, paying for camping, player's daily per diem and plane tickets to and from Guinea.
But the Minister pointed out that this involvement added to previous input during the campaign which would put the total cost at Sh18 million.
"We shall make sure we play the role required of Government to support the success of our sportsmen," the Minister said but was clear that the Government would assist and not interfere with soccer administration.
Talk has been rife that the Government is planning to recruit a foreign coach and shake up the management structure of the team.
The Kenya Football Federation (KFF) whose vice-chairman Titus Katsuve was also in Conakry, said they have not been approached by anybody about the offer they [KFF] are being made.
"The efforts such as this, may they be made, as you are saying, from the Prime Minister's office, should be welcomed, but let me say the country is grateful for coach Francis Kimanzi's contribution and still confident of his abilities," Sambili said.
Katsuve said an exciting innovation to KFF's management is on the way.
"Guiding the Harambee Stars in the immediate task of qualification is top priority but it will be in tandem with an immediate plan to restructure our management in the country," he said.
The KFF will immediately establish offices in all their 17 branches in the country to be run by a secretary general employed and paid by KFF.
The KFF secretary general and chief executive officer, Sammy Obingo will be overall manager of all the branch offices.
"This will ensure round the clock activity and efficiency to run provincial soccer administration including leagues and other competitions.
"Current reality is that some of the elected officials are too busy to pay attention to football on a daily basis. One of our current branch secretaries, for example, is a council Mayor."
Katsuve said the current Harambee Stars success had put KFF in the spot light about their ability to financially guide the Stars in next year's crucial matches and Minister Sambili had a response to this:
"We would urge everyone, corporates and individuals, to support whoever is in the KFF so that our national game can continue to flourish. Infighting among the KFF people and resentment towards the organisation will not help us."
The six-match run in the first round was propelled by the KPL, an organisation of the 16 top soccer clubs in the country playing in the Premier Division, They put their money on the line for the national team.
If KPL's handling of the Harambee Stars is going to come to an end it perhaps will come as a sigh of satisfying relief.
The KPL chairman, Bob Munro said they were happy to have played their role in campaign even though it put holes in the pockets of every club.
"We had incurred a Sh8 million deficit and therefore every club sacrificed approximately Sh500,000 each.
"And will KPL feel shunted when they are no longer the managers of the World Cup campaign?
"We have an arduous task ahead of us. Our priority is to continue making the KPL achieve a high level of professional management.
"Half the players in the national team come from our league and therefore it is obvious we are making a huge contribution," said Munro.
The Harambee Stars have turned the heads around in Africa and Munro pointed out that it was wonderful to see some of those who underrated Kenyans eating their words.
The highly confident Guinea were in a panic because even a draw with Kenya would have eliminated the Syli Stars on Saturday evening.
Yet a year ago after the draw, Robert Nouzeret, Guinea coach had said: "I am confident as I think that this is a group that we can qualify from.
"I don't want to come across as presumptuous but we shall play to the best of our abilities, qualifying shouldn't pose too many problems."
Qualifying, they could have but didn't the Harambee Stars cause them one of two problems?
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