AFC Leopards first choice goalkeeper Levis Opiyo has sent out a plea to newly appointed Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba to quickly sort out the football stalemate in the country which will in turn alleviate most of the challenges players are currently facing.Speaking to Mozzart Sport, the former Gor Mahia custodian outlined how the current football impasse has affected the daily lives of players on top of the existing confusion which has left a vacuum in the country’s football administration as it is still unclear when the 2022/2023 Football Kenya Federation Premier League will kick off.Congratulations Hon. @AbabuNamwamba upon your being sworn in as the new Cabinet Secretary in charge of Youth Affairs, Sports and Arts. Karibu Waziri! pic.twitter.com/U924udJOwj— State Department for Youth Affairs (@SDY_Ke) October 27, 2022 “The new Cabinet Secretary should quickly understand that as players we depend on the game for our survival in terms of salaries and bonuses from the sponsorships our teams get.So once the sponsors see no game taking place the way it is currently, they may threaten to withdraw because they are probably not seeing the value for their money. So, it is just our prayer that Ababu Namwamba may quicken the process of getting things back to normalcy because it has almost been four months since the league ended,” the player told Mozzart Sport.Ready to serve🇰🇪 pic.twitter.com/mDOPsXbrOC— Hon Ababu-Namwamba, EGH🇰🇪 (@AbabuNamwamba) October 28, 2022 Kenya has been in limbo since February this year when the world football governing body FIFA ratified the move to hand the country an indefinite suspension following the November 2021 decision by former Sports CS Ambassador Amina Mohammed to disband the Nick Mwendwa led Football Kenya Federation (FKF), an act found to have amounted to government interference.As a result, the country remains barred from taking part in any international competitions till the FKF ouster is reversed.##NAJAVA_MECA_6778579##Additionally, Opiyo stressed the importance of having Kenya back on the FIFA membership and having the league getting underway as soon as possible saying the players will have a reduced burden of playing catchup.“When we leave it too late to start it means that we will be rushing to catch up because the fixture schedule will be congested which means more risk of injury to the players who will be required to play the games,” he said.NSL Most Valuable Player vows to cement starting place at Kakamega HomeboyzDuring his vetting process, Namwamba promised to solve the football conundrum once he fully takes over. Just a day, the former lawmaker posted on his official social media channels that he had already gotten the process underway in a bid to lift the suspension.“On my day 1 in office today I engaged FIFA on the phone to commence the process of resolving the impasse that has seen Kenya banned by the world football governing body. Government is committed to returning Kenyan football to normalcy in sync with the rule of law and public good,” he wrote.
