The federation boss now says they will not appeal against the decision by the African body to ban the CEO and fine them
Football Kenya Federation has reacted to the move by the Confederation of African Football to ban CEO Barry Otieno and fine the body after the official allegedly tore apart PCR tests for Covid-19 before their away match against Comoros.
On Saturday, Caf issued a statement stating they had banned Otieno and Harambee Stars team manager Ronny Oyando for six months each and also fined the federation (USD 20, 000 approximately Ksh2million) for their conduct during the African Cup of Nations qualifier in Moroni.
Caf accused Otieno and Oyando of tearing apart the report which indicated four Kenyan players had tested positive for Covid-19.
FKF President Nick Mwendwa has now told Goal they will not appeal.
“It is all lies,” Mwendwa told Goal on Saturday. “Caf should have given us a chance to defend ourselves but they have already come out with a ruling.
“Secondly, we tested our players for Covid-19 before we left Kenya and they were all negative, we landed after four hours later and they now say four of our players were positive.
“Anyway, we will take the ban and fine, it is not worth appealing.”
On banning the two officials, Caf stated: “On the day of the match the General Secretary of the Comoros Football Federation came in early to take their PCR tests, and he was met with refusal from the Kenyan national team’s management, they delayed the process for three hours until they finally gave in.
“The test results arrived just a few minutes before kick-off, during warm-up, due to the said delay. The Commissioner did not get the chance to check the results himself as Barry Otieno, the General Secretary of the Football Kenya Federation, and Ronny Oyando, the Kenyan team manager disputed the results as soon as they have become aware of them and snatched them from his hands and tore them apart.
“According to the PCR tests copies that were acquired after the match, four players have all tested positive before the match yet took part in the game and risked the contamination of the opposing team as well as their fellow teammates and all officials that were involved in match 94 of the Total African Cup of Nations Qualifiers.”
The statement continued: “In terms of Caf Statutes and Regulations, in terms of the Covid-19 FAQs and in terms of Articles 82, 83, 133, 134 and 98 of Caf Disciplinary Code, the Caf Disciplinary Board has decided to: impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Otieno from all football activities relating to Caf, impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Oyando from all football activities relating to Caf and impose upon your Federation a financial sanction of 20.000 USD [Twenty Thousand US Dollars approximately Ksh2million].”
Kenya lost the game 2-1 with Cliff Nyakeya scoring the lone goal.
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