AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda has lashed out at the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) for harbouring malice against the Kenyan giants.
In an interview, Shikanda censured the local governing body for sustaining a vicious onslaught that smacks of political warfare.
Shikanda pinpointed FKF’s leagues and competitions committee as the main culprit in their current woes.
“It’s not fair for FKF to favour any side in the competition. We have a league and competition committee that appears to be utterly biased towards our opponents,” Shikanda remarked.
“It’s so unfortunate that FKF is determined to influence proceedings in favour of a particular top-tier side. That’s a sure way of killing football.”
Shikanda said Leopards will continue to promote fair play despite the hurdles being placed on the club’s path by people he accused of harbouring ill motives.
“We are trying as much as we can to play by the rules so that we can raise the standard of our game in the country. But we have some officials at the federation who have other ill motives,” Shikanda stated.
He singled out an incident that occurred during their FKF Cup semifinal clash against the law enforcers at the Police Sacco Stadium on Sunday.
The high-stakes match was abandoned in the 60th minute after a rowdy spectator hurled a missile that struck assistant referee Samwel Kuria on the head.
The remaining 30 minutes were concluded at the same venue on Monday with Police cruising to victory on the back of Tito’s Okello 7th-minute goal scored on Sunday.
“Moreso, I will mention the leagues and competition committee led by Michael Majua. I overheard him telling FKF Secretary General Barry Otieno that AFC Leopards had caused the abandonment of Sunday’s tie and went further to propose that the Police be awarded the match. He didn’t know I was seated near listening to him," said Shikanda.
“I furiously shot up and challenged him to explain how we were responsible for the incident when our players were on the pitch honouring the encounter.”
“We decided to honour the remainder of the fixture on Monday just out of formality but we were already aware a decision had been made to eliminate us from the competition."
Otieno said FKF would not only respond to substantiated claims — on how the federation mismanaged the Cup semifinal against Kenya Police and how they are stifling Leopards for political reasons.
"I would like to respond to tangible things," said Otieno. "If there is any evidence before you demonstrating that politics is in play, I am happy to respond."
"Please ask him (Shikanda) to substantiate his claims. Once he does, we will respond. What happened was clear to everyone," Otieno added.
Shikanda termed the development as a well-calculated move aimed at banning them from the competition.
“They harboured malice against us. They intended to ban us and lock us out of the tournament for the next three years. It would have been an injustice on my side to leave office with such a scenario in place.”