Mariga, Six Others Kicked Out as FKF General Assembly Makes Major Changes
The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) General Assembly has expelled Vice-President McDonald Mariga and six other National Executive Committee members following a tumultuous Special General Meeting marred by police tear gas in Meru.
Saturday’s gathering at the Three Steers Hotel culminated in the dismissal of Mariga alongside Central NEC Member Robert Kenneth Macharia, Upper Rift Valley Member Bernard Korir Lagat, Women Representative Violet Kerubo Momanyi, Nyanza Member Collins Opiyo Kalee, Coast Member Gabriel Mghendi, and Nairobi Member Daniel Akala Shikanda.
Delegates exercised their mandate under Articles 16 and 24 of the FKF Constitution. The assembly cited a disputed April 24 resolution by the ousted officials seeking to remove the FKF President, alongside repeated absenteeism from NEC meetings and unauthorised communications.
The resolutions were preceded by dramatic security clashes at the venue. Officers from the Police Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU) fired tear gas inside the meeting rooms to clear armed individuals occupying hotel rooms.
FKF confirmed that the operation disrupted the morning session as delegates awaited proceedings. The chaos followed an incident a day earlier in which NEC member Abdalla Yusuf was hospitalised after sustaining an arm injury during an altercation with RDU officers.
Tensions at the hotel exposed deep factional rifts. Reports indicated that a faction allied to the FKF President had booked the entire hotel, while delegates aligned with the targeted NEC members were reportedly denied access and chased away by stone-throwing groups.
“We have to get the delegates who have been pelted with stones and chased away by goons as they attempted to access the Special General Meeting; they are still outside,” Mariga told RDU officers at the scene before the meeting commenced.
Mariga had arrived at the venue under heavy RDU escort. Despite the turbulence, international and government observers attended the meeting, including FIFA Senior MA Governance Service Manager Bruno Comicholi, FIFA Regional Office lead David Ndayisenga, and CAF Legal Manager Nnaemeka A. Olu.
They were joined by Acting Sports Registrar Chacha J. Maroa and representatives from the State Department for Sports. The meeting had been legally convened under Article 31(2) of the FKF Constitution, 2017, to address the fallout from the April 24 NEC resolutions.
In a subsequent statement, FKF expressed deep concern over the RDU intervention. The federation condemned the police action for disrupting a constitutional assembly, adding that it would soon communicate administrative arrangements following the purge.
