Football Kenya Federation -FKF- has resolved to expel Vice-President McDonald Mariga and six other members of its National Executive Committee -NEC-, a decision the officials reject and have asked FIFA and the Confederation of African Football -CAF- to review. The resolution was adopted at a Special General Meeting in Meru on 7 November. Two days later, Mariga alleged irregularities involving access, accreditation and voting, opening another chapter in his dispute with federation President Hussein Mohammed as Kenya prepares to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
Alongside Mariga, the decision affects Robert Kenneth Macharia, representing Central; Bernard Korir Lagat, Upper Rift Valley; Violet Kerubo Momanyi, the women’s representative; Collins Opiyo Kalee, Nyanza; Gabriel Mghendi, Coast; and Daniel Akala Shikanda, Nairobi. FKF accuses them of serious and repeated breaches of its constitution and applicable football regulations, including April’s attempt to remove the president, absences from duly convened meetings and unauthorised communications on the federation’s behalf. The federation maintains that the General Assembly exercised its powers under Articles 16 and 24 of its constitution.
From a joint election ticket to an insurance dispute
Mohammed and Mariga were elected president and vice-president together on 7 December 2024. Their split became explicit on 24 April 2026, when a group of NEC members led by Mariga resolved to suspend the president, Acting General Secretary Dennis Gicheru and committee member Abdullahi Yusuf. The move followed allegations concerning a KSh42.48 million insurance transaction linked to the 2024 African Nations Championship -CHAN-, which was held in August 2025. The dispute therefore combined questions about the competition’s financial management with complaints from NEC members that they had been excluded from federation decision-making.
Mohammed denied that any money had been lost and maintained that the insurance had been procured within the framework of the hosting agreement with CAF. He also rejected the validity of the meeting seeking to suspend him, arguing that it had not been convened in accordance with the constitution. Court injunctions halted the April resolutions, while divisions within the leadership continued. That confrontation explains the Meru meeting: delegates were asked to examine the decisions taken against the president, their consequences and the conduct of the officials involved. The financial allegations and procedural objections are separate issues; removing the seven officials does not, in itself, establish what happened with the insurance.
The right to be heard and the voting process
In his statement on 9 November, Mariga said the seven officials and 32 accredited delegates had been denied access to the meeting. He alleged that the officials had been deprived of the opportunity to defend themselves and that their dismissals were approved by acclamation rather than secret ballot. “This is a mandatory constitutional requirement, not an optional procedure,” he said of Article 41(5). He also questioned some participants’ identities and authority to attend, the authenticity of the attendance register, the quorum and the majority required to pass the resolutions. The central challenge is therefore whether the Assembly respected the safeguards required to dismiss elected officials, alongside having the power to do so.
The meeting was preceded by disturbances at the Three Steers Hotel, involving a police deployment, tear gas and a delay of several hours beyond the scheduled start. Reports from the venue describe Mariga leaving and subsequent difficulties for him and his allies in gaining readmission. FKF also expressed concern about the police operation that disrupted preparations. According to the federation, attendees included FIFA and CAF representatives, Acting Sports Registrar Chacha J. Maroa and representatives of the State Department for Sports. Their presence as observers does not amount to a ruling validating the dismissals, which the affected officials are now seeking to have reviewed.
A leadership crisis with AFCON approaching
The dispute has a continental dimension because Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will jointly host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, from 19 June to 17 July. Preparations require coordination between federations, governments, organising committees and CAF, while Kenya’s football leadership remains divided over who can exercise certain responsibilities. There is also an institutional precedent: FIFA suspended FKF in February 2022 after the government replaced its elected executive with a caretaker committee. The suspension was lifted that November following the reinstatement of the leadership. That case concerned external intervention and does not establish that the current internal confrontation will lead to another suspension.
The seven officials insist that they remain in office and have asked FIFA, CAF and the Sports Registrar to examine the delegates’ credentials, attendance records, quorum and voting procedures in Meru. FKF, meanwhile, stands by the decision and has announced further communications on its implementation and the resulting administrative arrangements. The requested review would need to distinguish the allegations against the officials from the safeguards required for their dismissal. The documents they want examined include those needed to establish who attended the Assembly, whom they represented and how the dismissals were approved.
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