The Football Kenya Federation (FKF), through their integrity department, have gone ahead to lay out a pre-requisite for players to commit in the fight against match-fixingMatch fixing menace continues to bite hard in the local sport, with 17 individuals suspended this year alone, including three in the topflight, FKFPL.In a revelation during an interview on Monday evening with NTV’s Sport On, Nairobi City Stars CEO Patrick Korir said that every player in the league this season has signed an integrity form before being issued with a player’s card.Mathare confirm suspension of duo on match fixing allegations”The federation has gone to every club to talk about integrity and what they have done is that for the first time ever you will not get a player’s card if you have not filled out the integrity form, it is a prerequisite. You sign your registration form, put up the contract in the system, and you must put up the integrity form. This means you are aware that the vice exists. If you do not upload your integrity form, you are not getting a player’s card and therefore you are not playing. Every player that you see on the pitch right now has signed that integrity form, and that is a way the federation is trying to curb match fixing. They are making everyone aware all the time when they send the fixtures and results nowadays by including a call to action to report,” Korir said in the interview.##NAJAVA_MECA_7041317##In a clarification with Mozzart Sport, the CEO pointed out that players signed the integrity forms after being taken through training sessions by the integrity department led by the head Mike Kamure on how to recognize, resist, and report instances of match fixing.”The players were taken through a training session on how to recognize the forms of match fixing that are there, shown tools that they can use to report such, and signed the integrity forms which are a commitment to help curb the vice,” Korir told Mozzart Sport.Talking about a long-term solution to the problem on Monday night during the show, Korir opined that there needs to be a law criminalizing the vice.Tusker defender Isaac Kipyegon and fourteen others suspended for alleged involvement in match fixingIn 2021, a Ugandan national was arrested while allegedly trying to influence the match results of a game between defacto Western Stima and KCB, but he was soon released as there was no law against him then.Further, Korir felt that there is a need for all matches to be recorded so that they will provide evidence in instances where there are allegations.”One way of curbing it is to make sure that all matches are recorded. Once there is clear evidence that someone was fixing the game, name and shame. Do not suspend them on the background. Make it known that they were suspended for match fixing. The third and most important one is to criminalize it. There needs to be a law and it needs to go to parliament and get legislated. There has to be a law that can be used against a person found culpable,” he added.
