Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa has defended the latest decision to appoint Francis Kimanzi as the head coach of Harambee Stars.
The former Mathare United coach was unveiled on Tuesday alongside the new technical bench which comprises of assistant Zedekiah Otieno and goalkeeper trainer Lawrence Webo.
Kimanzi will take over the reins of the team for the next two years, replacing Sebastien Migne, who parted ways with FKF after only one year in charge of the side.
Speaking to Goal after the unveiling ceremony, Mwendwa said: “We are confident the new bench will deliver the results we want. Kimanzi has been here before and he knows what we need from him.
“We have seen many countries outside there depending on local coaches and they perform very well. I will give an example of Jean-Florent Ikwange Ibengé of DR Congo, he is a local coach and was trusted to handle the side and he did very well at the Africa Cup of Nations.
“We have made another step and handed the team to our local coaches, we have taken some time to do things properly, we negotiated with them in all aspects and we were keen to do it before the next qualifiers, we wanted to give the coach a clean slate so he can prepare the team well.
“We always had an idea after the end of Migne's regime; we will appoint a local coach and [this is the] reason we elevated Kimanzi to be his assistant. We have lived to our ideals and we bring you Kimanzi as the head coach and he will be in charge of the team for the next two years.
“He [Kimanzi] will handle the team in all competitions including the Cecafa tournament. He has big job to do, it is a two-year contract with a possibility of extending the same.
“We feel he has the experience having been with the national team previously and also after he helped Kenya alongside Migne to qualify for the Afcon held in Egypt.”
Kimanzi’s first task with be a friendly match against Uganda on September 8 in Kenya.
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