Harambee Stars captain Victor Wanyama has revealed Football Kenya Federation (FKF) took sh12 million from the sh50 million awarded to players claiming to be budgetary costs.
Kenya had been promised the money by the government as a reward for qualifying for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) held in Egypt. The skipper has also denied making decisions without involving the team as earlier alleged by teammate Aboud Omar.
"The Federation initially wanted to take a whole sh15 and leave us with sh35 million to share but I refused," Wanyama told MGTV.
"I wanted us to have at least sh45 million since every player who had taken part in the campaign had a right to be paid.
"FKF alleged part of the money was to be used for administrative purposes which included budgets for the team. After a long discussion involving teammates, we settled on sh38 million with the rest going to the Federation."
The entire sh50 million was meant for players and the technical bench. The 28-year-old has insisted he never, at any given time, made a decision without involving the team.
"It is very disrespectful when [Omar] states I did not involve the players when making a decision," Wanyama added.
"I remember, he was not in the Ghana game because he was suspended meaning he missed the conversation and the engagements. So I feel it is stupid when someone accuses me of what I did not do."
Players who were in Egypt were entitled to a sh250,000 bonus after winning their match against Tanzania. Aboud had initially stated the Federation promised to settle them after three months.
The money was to come from Confederation of African Football (Caf); however, Wanyama says FKF told him the bonuses were to be paid by the government.
"I asked Nick [Mwendwa] about the bonus and he said it is in the process and immediately [when] the government releases the money, we will be paid.
"After FKF failed to pay us as promised, I enquired for the way forward before our 2021 Afcon qualifier away to Egypt and was told the same thing, 'we are waiting.'
"So I gave them an ultimatum that before we play Comoros, we should have our monies, unfortunately, Covid-19 happened."
