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FKF vice president Doris Petra has insisted she is not a project of her running mate and outgoing president Nick Mwendwa but her fate now lies in the hands of 90 delegates.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) vice president Doris Petra stands on the cusp of history as she could become the first woman to lead the sport in the country.
Petra is in the running for the FKF presidency in the federation’s election slated for Saturday December 7 even though she has struggled to shake off the tag of Nick Mwendwa’s project.
This is because outgoing president Mwendwa made a surprise move to vie as Petra’s running mate, meaning the roles will be reversed if their ‘Team Blue’ carries the day in the hotly-contested elections.
Given Mwendwa has been the face of the federation throughout his eight-year reign, Petra has been overshadowed by him even during the campaigns, leading to the project tag.
Petra rejects ‘project’ tag
However, the 50-year-old insists she is her own woman and has promised to change the face of Kenyan football, if elected, dissociating herself from any failings that the outgoing administration might have been accused of.
“I am not Mwendwa’s project as purported, I decided to vie for the top seat because of my love for the game. I am in football because I love it and that is why I am encouraging other women to vie for top positions in any sport whenever a chance arises,” Petra told Nation.
“My agenda is to see football improve and to make it better. I have a lot in store for Kenyan football and that is why I have decided to run in the elections.
“I have absolved myself from blame from any failures at the federation because I believe I did my job accordingly. My role was to offer pieces of advice but now I want to be the boss so that I can rightfully do things much better. You can judge me for any failures after my term as president.”
Mwendwa’s success & failures
Mwendwa’s eight-year tenure is credited with an improvement in the welfare of national teams with cases of mistreatment in camp both at home and abroad rarely heard while they pride themselves for having led Harambee Stars to AFCON 2019, Starlets to WAFCON 2016 and Junior Starlets to the 2024 FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup.
However, while Petra has dissociated herself from the shortcomings of the Mwendwa-led administration, rivals feel she cannot escape blame given she has been second in command in the last eight years.
Part of what Mwendwa’s team has been accused of is not tackling is the issue of match fixing that continues to bedevil Kenyan football, low standards of officiating while the quality and standing of the FKF Premier League has also gone down, being overtaken by neighbours such as Tanzania, who are now attracting top players from the continent.
Sponsors are also few in the game due to a number of reasons while the expenditure of FIFA and state funds have been the subject of many questions. The Mwendwa administration’s Achilles’ heel remains the loss of millions of funds that went into the purchase of an OB Van while he was hounded out of office over allegations of graft in 2021, leading to a nine-month FIFA ban for Kenya.
New broom or status quo?
Mwendwa has since been cleared over the allegations, with all charges dropped in March 2023, but the whole episode was used as the stick with which to beat him by his detractors.
Those are some of the issues Petra has had to face and answer to but she remains confident that she is the right person to take Kenyan football forward.
“We must improve foundations from the grassroots. We must continue with the structures put in place. I have plans to improve them. When we took office in 2016, youth football was just on paper,” she added.
“Partnering with Safaricom Chapa Dimba and schools we created youth competitions which gave us the players that are now playing top leagues.”
Whether that amounts to change or a retention of the status quo is something the 90 delegates will have in mind when heading to the ballot on Saturday
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