Former Kenya Football Federation (KFF) chairman Maina Kariuki has passed on. Apparently Kariuki was hospitalized and succumbed to covid related complications after a short illness on Sunday, August 15th.
Kariuki took over the running of the football body from Peter Kenneth in 2000 and will be remembered for his efforts to professionalize the management of the game through the corporate approach formula.
He also oversaw some successes, and specifically Kenya’s qualification to the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia. With his accolades also comes the flip side since his stint at the helm was also punctuated with controversy, and especially the reported loss of Sh1 million gate collections in a match involving Kenya and Swaziland in Mombasa. During his tenure, the world soccer governing body had to come in to end rifts between the federation and the government- rifts that saw Kenya suspended twice due to government interference.
Due to the constant friction with clubs and government, 11 teams from the top league quit the KFF league to form the Kenyan Premier Football Group Limited (KPFG) which was the offshoot of what was to be the Kenyan Premier League.
Kariuki quit football management after several run-ins with the government and has been living a quiet life outside football after retiring as a senior executive at the Coca Cola.