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Congratulations are in order for the new executive team that was elected on Saturday to lead the Football Kenya Federation (FKF). However, there is little time for honeymooning, given that they came into office the same day that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that it had taken away Kenya’s right to co-host the African Nations Championship (CHAN) scheduled for February. The same week, FIFA, the world’s football governing body, directed that Kenya play its World Cup qualifiers home ties in Lilongwe, Malawi.

This makes December the worst of times for football in Kenya. However, the new leadership, under the stewardship of incoming FKF president Hussein Mohammed, can rise to the occasion and make it the best of times by reviving the dwindling fortunes of the game. First, they will need to prevail upon the Sports ministry, under what is looking like a disastrous leadership under CS Kipchumba Murkomen, to complete construction work on the Talanta, Nyayo and Kasarani stadiums.

It cannot be that Kenya, despite its geopolitical credentials, lacks a stadium fit enough to host international matches. If anything, this is a national shame and should make every Kenyan of reasonable mind furious with rage. It is not right that Kenyans cannot watch their national team play “at home” unless they travel 2,000km to Lilongwe.

It is an indictment against the outgoing team, led by Nick Mwenda, that in the eight years they were at the helm, Kenyan football has literally gone to the dogs. There are no televised matches, there is no clear growth path for teams and players and there is nothing to show on the ground for all the money that they have either made or received, including funding from FIFA.

In neighbouring Tanzania, football is big business. Companies like CocaCola go out of their way to work with league teams because managers of the sport have unlocked the secrets of filling up stadiums. It is not a wonder, therefore, that Tanzania is easily the country best suitable in East Africa to host the CHAN opening ceremony. Kenya, in contrast, had no preparations committee until last week.

It is also no surprise that Rwanda, a small country with fewer resources compared with Kenya, has the Amahoro Stadium, an architectural marvel, and, because of this, it has taken the biscuit right out of Kenya’s mouth. That they have been selected as the third co-host after Tanzania and Uganda shows just what kind of difference leadership makes.

Kenyan football, at the club, FKF and governmental level, has been disastrous to say the least. Despite all the budgetary allocations, we build stadiums to host political events and prayer gatherings largely because we lack the political will and visionary leadership needed to do the right thing for Kenya and for the sport.

Rwanda, on the other hand, signed a strategic partnership with the England Premier League team Arsenal to market the country abroad. Now, every time the North London club is playing, messages about Rwanda are beamed across the world. Are we surprised that for them, yanking CHAN away from Kenya’s grip was like taking candy from a baby; just because there is right-thinking and focused leadership, right from the very top.

This should serve as a lesson for political leaders, ministry mandarins and the incoming FKF leadership team to do everything in their power to put Kenya back in good football books internationally. And they should prioritise completing stadiums as a first step to rebuilding the game. They must also engineer a grassroots movement that will encourage fans to return to the terraces by, for instance, bringing back order and ending corruption in ticketing and cracking down on drug abuse and crime inside stadiums through increased policing and other security measures.

It is sad that we will have to watch the CHAN money walk away, yet we knew all along that we had won the bid. But because we do not love our country and football hard enough, we have allowed that opportunity to be swallowed by tiny Rwanda. Were it up to me, I would have someone jailed for this. Anyway, we have another chance to make good. It is up to us to decide if we will make it work or we will once again squander it.

— The writer is the Editor-in-Chief of The Nairobi Law Monthly and Nairobi Business Monthly; [email protected]