Nation Media Group journalist, Cellestine Olilo, alleged that she received threats and intimidation from officials from the Football Kenya Federation after breaking one of the biggest corruption stories on football.
Olio spoke on The Funny Real and Raw Football show hosted by Chiko Lawi.
The story she referred to was on FKF firing a coach in the women's national team and replacing her in an unprocedural manner.
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“That was the first time we got into a tiff with Nick Mwendwa (former FKF president). It wasn't supposed to be an argument as I think it was something done behind his back (he wasn't privy to it).
“He seemed to be very upset with it and I was perturbed because I did not expect him to react in such a way. It was a negative story that touched on his office, one that irked him so much that he saw it fit to call and shout at me,” Olilo claimed.
She added that after that incident, her relationship with Mwendwa became rocky.
“After that so, many other stories came out. From the issue of the outside broadcast van where Ksh125 million was embezzled to the Ksh244 million that was given to the National Team for AFCON preparation and also their controversies around the African Cup of Nations in Egypt,” she added.
“That's when the Ministry of Sports cracked down on the federation exposing how it was receiving funds for commodities and services that had already been paid for," Olilo stated.
She was, nonetheless, surprised by the federation's decision to avail documents for her investigation when the team she was working with asked them to comply and prove it was innocent.
“Luckily when I went to the federation, they were confident that we wouldn't find any evidence to pin them down. They even allowed us access to the documents."
However, FKF's move proved risky as the federation incriminated itself.
At their office, Olilo and the team first sought the green light of their CEO after convincing him that the case was watertight. They broke the article into a three-part series and were even further surprised when the bosses pushed it to the front pages of the Daily Nation newspaper.
"My bosses were like, ‘this is not a story for the back pages, this is actually a corruption scandal and it’s a major one'. It went on the front page on a Monday morning.
"That very day, officials from the federation called me to lament that we shouldn't have exposed them on the front page,” she added.
The calls, she stated, were anonymous as the callers suspected that she was recording them. Other officials, she claimed, harassed her for publishing the exposé.
“Initially Nick was the one who used to call me himself complaining about the coverage of my story and why I did not give the federation right to reply.
"I told him not to talk to me but my bosses as I write for a media house which has guidelines and policies that are adhered to,” she added.
Olilo is currently an editor at the Nation Media Group with over 10 years of experience in sports journalism.
In 2019 and 2021, she won the Media Council Kenya (MCK) Sports Reporter of the Year.
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