Whereas there are those who have argued that football fans without tickets for last weekend’s Kenya versus Angola game did well to storm Nyayo National Stadium, I wish to advance the view that the reprehensible means did not justify the end.

Football, like all civilised activities, demands order, rule of law and predictability. As such, it was wrong for fans to break down one of the gates of the stadium and illegally access areas reserved for paying audiences. This makes nonsense of the idea of ticketing. It beats logic to spend time and money acquiring a ticket and travelling to the venue only to find your seat taken up by a hooligan.

It was even worse that some of the goons assaulted a Member of Parliament, just because they took their political differences to a sports event at a time when television cameras from across the continent had their lenses firmly focused on Kenya. There were also reports, which are yet to be independently unconfirmed, that one female fan lost money and valuables while leaving the venue, which implies that there were probably others who suffered one form of loss or another but chose to bear their pain in silence. Yet the organisers had promised all in attendance top-notch security. What happened to that promise?

Let us for one minute appreciate that this is the first time in a long time that Harambee Stars has had to play on home soil after both Fifa and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) found stadia in Kenya unfit to host international matches. Ironically, when Kenya earned an opportunity to demonstrate that it was putting its house in order and getting ready to host both CHAN and AFCON tournaments later this year, rogues used the event to squander what was otherwise a golden opportunity.

It should not come as a surprise, therefore, if CAF, the continental football governing body, decides to sanction Kenya for these preventable security lapses that have cast the management of football in bad light at home and abroad.

One suspects, however, that there was a political hand – probably two – behind the aberrations that sought to use a sports showcase to make a political statement. And this is part of the major problem that has become all too common in recent months. It does not matter if it happens in a church, school, funeral, or other sombre occasion. All have been turned into theatres of needless political brinkmanship even though elections are still two years away.

The upshot is that lawlessness and its mannerless cousin, impunity, have become common currency at every turn, with those perpetuating them losing all modicum of decency in their pursuit of raw power and self-aggrandisement. As a result, Kenyans are slowly losing respect for the basic minimums of constructive social engagement, throwing out all rules, including sacred constitutional precepts, to achieve the selfish goals. And the morass is spreading to all sectors of public life.

This trend ought not to be allowed to taint football. In other countries, including neighbouring Tanzania, football is a major driver of economic growth and national happiness. Tickets sales hit the roof every time their equivalent of premier league teams meet. Big businesses, such as suppliers of beverages, have partnered with teams and football managers to ride on this virtuous cycle. It is no wonder, then, that Tanzania has better quality stadia compared with Kenya and was prepared to host the two continental ties way before Kenya started building its first stadium. Will we be surprised if they put up a spectacular opening ceremony? We will feign surprise and argue that Kenya is still ahead in other areas, but deep down, we know that Tanzania is doing a consistently better job at running football than we are. So are Rwanda and Uganda.

The message that needs to go out to football managers, and politicians as well, is that Kenya is in too precarious a position to afford messing around with international football. We need to keep building on the small successes we have been chalking up if we are to turn local football into the powerhouse it ought to be.

— The writer is the Editor-in-Chief of The Nairobi Law Monthly and Nairobi Business Monthly Mbugua@nairobilawmonthly.com-