CHAN scandal: Is the insurance saga just the tip of the iceberg?

Football Kenya Federation’s (FKF) internal war took a dramatic turn yesterday after the McDonald Mariga-led National Executive Committee (NEC) wing tabled an explosive dossier before Parliament, accusing the federation’s top leadership of presiding over a deep governance, financial and administrative crisis.

The NEC argued that the current state of the federation’s dealings threatens Kenya’s football credibility and, most importantly, preparation for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Appearing before the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism, the nine NEC members aligned to Vice President Mariga painted a grim picture of a federation they said was being run through weakened oversight systems, questionable procurement decisions, concealed contracts and parallel centres of power.

Their submission to MPs came on the same day FKF President Hussein Mohammed defended himself against allegations of financial impropriety, insisting he remained the legitimate head of FKF despite an NEC resolution seeking his temporary dismissal.

The Sports Tribunal, however, overturned the NEC’s resolution, with a temporary order following a case filed under a certificate of urgency, seeking to quash the decision.

Hussein, denying any loss of funds, was visibly at pains to explain how FKF irregularly authorised payment of USD 328,735 (about Sh42.7 million) to Riskwell Insurance Brokers Limited, an unlicensed company absent from FKF’s list of prequalified providers and incorporated 40 days before the start of the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament.

“I am not an investigating body. I don’t know whether they have a licensed brokerage. All I know is insurance cover was provided,” he said, reiterating that the insurance was not paid by FKF but by CAF.

He also claimed the NEC attempted a coup while he was out of the country, with the vice president failing to inform him.

“There were attempts at a coup while I was in Uganda, and the vice president knew about it but did not inform me,” Hussein said.

Last month, after the FKF NEC announced his suspension, he claimed a smear campaign aimed at damaging his reputation, while also destabilising the federation was active.

Nine out of 14 FKF NEC members passed a formal resolution calling for top federation officials to step aside, directing him, NEC member Abdullahi Yussuf Ibrahim and Acting General Secretary Dennis Gicheru, to vacate office temporarily and allow investigations. Hussein insisted he was still in charge.

“I have not stepped aside. I remain the duly elected FKF President and represented the country in the recent FIFA Congress in Vancouver. The purported resolution of 24th April 2026 lacks constitutional validity and is, in my view, null and void,” he said.

He then asked the committee to allow FKF deal with its internal matters independently to avoid the consequences that might arise with the involvement of a third party.

“I want to give a word of caution, FKF matters can be handled internally. My request is to give a chance to the FKF internal mechanisms without much undue influence from outside,” he asked.

Mariga faction

But while Hussein focused on dismissing claims around the controversial insurance transaction, Mariga’s camp widened the battlefield, arguing the insurance issue was only the tip of the iceberg, a symptom of what they termed ‘broader systemic governance failures’ within the federation.

In the 11-page memorandum, the faction accused the three officials of actions they say may have violated multiple Kenyan laws on procurement, public finance and integrity.

Among the strongest accusations raised was what the NEC described as a complete breakdown in financial oversight. The committee heard that no federation budgets had been presented to the NEC for approval since February last year, despite the Ministry of Sports’ directive demanding executive oversight of all government-funded programmes. These include national team assignments and engagements in the recently ended FIFA Series.

According to the submission, billions in public and donor-backed football activities have since allegedly been managed without collective approval, quarterly management accounts, audited statements or full disclosure to elected NEC officials.

The Mariga faction further alleged that internal federation minutes were manipulated to remove key accountability safeguards, including provisions that had elevated Finance Committee chair Luthers Mokua into the FKF signatory structure. Instead, MPs were told, crucial account controls were progressively weakened after the dismissal of the federation’s Finance Director, leaving the president and acting CEO with disproportionate influence over financial transactions.

NEC Nairobi member Dan Shikanda explained how it became tough to get hold of the FKF President whenever they called for meetings to solve issues internally.

“It became very difficult to get the president and the NEC co-opted member together and sit as a team to go through the queries of the Auditor General,” said Shikanda.

The NEC also claimed the Harambee Stars Management Board account, one of the main channels through which public funds flow into federation activities, has been operated without their knowledge, saying they have never received statements or transaction records from the account. This, they argued, created room for arbitrary payments to companies that were neither prequalified nor competitively approved by the federation.

The Committee was also furnished with a list of firms that the NEC wants investigated, among them travel agencies, logistics providers, media contractors and insurance brokers that allegedly received payments without proper executive sanction.

At the heart of the submission, however, remained the CHAN insurance storm that triggered the current wrangles. The NEC told MPs that 2024 CHAN insurance had already been structured under the Local Organising Committee (LOC) framework, making the separate arrangement irregular and indicative of procurement interference.

NEC Lower Rift member Peter Kamau ‘Kaskas’ Chege argued that the allegations in front of the committee were not minimal.

“We are talking about Sh42 million paid to a company that does not deserve it,” he said.

NEC Central member Robert Macharia confirmed there was no legal tender document for the deal, but evidence of payment was available.

“We want to confirm here that there was none [tender]…but there is evidence of payment, cheque and approvals, which are part of the document we have given the committee,” he indicated.

Beyond finances, the faction also listed what it termed ‘administrative decay’ within the federation. MPs heard that several senior technical and football development officers, including national team staff, were allegedly serving without formal employment contracts.

There were also claims of undocumented dismissals, undisclosed agreements involving major sponsors and international partners, and even unauthorised seizure of about 250 CAF-donated ticket scanners.

The faction insisted such actions had contributed to the rise of ‘parallel governance structures’, where key decisions were allegedly being made outside established constitutional channels and outside the knowledge of elected committee members.

Mariga and Hussein warned Parliament that unless the wrangles are urgently resolved, Kenya’s ability to effectively coordinate football matters ahead of the 2027 AFCON could suffer serious damage.

“The current governance challenges expose FKF to the risk of non-compliance, increased scrutiny and possible weakening of Kenya’s standing within the Pamoja hosting framework,” the NEC stated in its submission.

The faction consequently asked Parliament to support independent investigations, strengthen oversight mechanisms within FKF and back their recommendation that all conflicted officials temporarily step aside pending investigations.