SHOWDOWN looms between Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Western branch and a regional NEC member, Elly Mukolwe, over the mini-league format. The branch secretary, George Baraza has defied proposals by Mukolwe to have teams from the larger Western feature in two mini-leagues before qualifying for the

Nationwide League. Six teams from Western and North Western branches will meet starting this weekend in Kakamega to decide which two teams will qualify for the Nationwide League.

But Mukolwe has maintained that the teams will have to play another mini-league involving teams from Nyanza and Rift Valley before determining their qualification fate. Baraza said Mukolwe's proposals were a pigment of his imagination and had been overtaken by events.

"We won a protracted battle with the national office to have a 22-team nationwide league instead of 20. We appealed to the National Leagues and Competitions Committee chairperson Doris Petro who acceded to our request and shelved their plans," he said.

Baraza said Mukolwe's proposal if adopted was tantamount to frustrating clubs from the region and might lock them from featuring in the Nationwide League if they lose in play-offs. He said Hamisi had also officially withdrawn from the mini-league and replaced by Kolongolo, contrary to list of teams presented by Mukolwe.