The Kenyan Premier League (KPL) chief operations and logistics officer Frank Okoth has come out strong to oppose the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) move to cancel the leagues.
Citing the Caf letter to all member associations which asked each country to respond on how they intend to carry on with their leagues after the coronavirus pandemic, Okoth says the FKF went overboard by cancelling the league and declaring champions.
The FKF also promoted and relegated teams across the leagues in the country on Thursday, citing the prolonged Covid-19 issue as the main reason for doing so.
“We have written a number of protest letters [to FKF] and what I am saying pretty much will not be different. Personally, I cannot take a stand and what we are doing is giving what the position of the league management is,” Okoth told Radio Jambo.
“Caf wrote the letter to all member associations, not Kenya alone, and wanted to know how each federation was planning to handle their competitions once the coronavirus issue is contained.
“It was clear they wanted to know the way forward but never asked the name of the champion.”
The FKF spared the Shield Cup, saying the competition could be decided in one or two weekends when normalcy returns but Okoth says there was no need for ending the KPL and waiting for longer to decide the fate of the domestic competition.
“The name of the KPL champion is always forwarded together with the name of the Shield Cup champion. We expected the federation to approach us and discuss the content of the Caf letter,” added the official.
“Then KPL would have stated their stand in which case we would have waited until when the government lifts the curfew and ban on public gatherings.
“From there, we would have seen when it would have been viable to allow the matches resume.
“The clubs ought to have been allowed to give their views on the same issue too. FKF has taken their stand but the question is; why is there time to conclude the FKF Shield Cup and there is no time to conclude the KPL?”
The KPL was suspended as it was about to hit matchday 24 while the Shield Cup had already produced a number of teams for the quarter-final phase.
