Sports Ministry to meet FKF chiefs over Stars coach

The Sports Ministry has summoned Football Kenya Federation (FKF) officials to an urgent meeting as intriguing details emerge regarding the abrupt and acrimonious departure of former Harambee Stars coach Paul Put.

Sports Principle Secretary Kirimi Kaberia told Nation Sport that he would meet federation officials this week to discuss Put’s exit, and to ensure that the appointment of the next national team coach is done in consultation with the government. 

“We want to understand his (Put’s) issue and then jointly develop a way of appointing and maintaining national team coaches, so that it involves more people than just the coach and FKF. That way we can avoid some of the challenges we have so far encountered,” he said. 

Put resigned as Harambee Stars coach on February 19, just 74 days into his contract. Then, the federation said that the Belgian cited personal reasons for his decision to quit, although Put stated otherwise in an exclusive interview carried by Nation Sport.

FKF denied Put’s claims

In the interview, Put revealed that his decision to quit was informed by sheer lack of support from FKF, unwillingness to participate in high-profile friendly matches, and a rejection of his request to incorporate his own helpers into the technical bench.

FKF have however denied the allegations, with FKF Communications Manager Barry Otieno reiterating that the federation granted Put all his requests as per the contract.

“Those are lies, and the truth will come out in the near future. We never turned down a friendly. If we didn’t want to face strong opposition in friendlies, we wouldn’t have played Congo last year,” he said on Sunday.

At the same time, a source at the federation has revealed to Nation Sport that FKF’s decision to reject a friendly match with Algeria and Luxembourg  was taken after it emerged that Put stood to benefit from the Sh4 million fee initially asked by the match agent.

The source who requested for anonymity also intimated that while preparing his documents for travel to Morocco for this month’s friendly matches against Gambia and Comoros, it emerged that Put could not renew his passport due to his poor ties with his native Belgium, where he has been banned from football-related activities for three years.

Put allegedly tried to secure a Kenyan passport to allow him better ease of travel.

It has also emerged that Put unexpectedly vacated his Nairobi residence early Sunday morning and surrendered the key to a security guard. He was yet to officially hand over to FKF, and many items are understood to be missing from the residence assigned to him when FKF representatives visited on Sunday afternoon.

Put was named Harambee Stars coach on November 18, 2017, taking over from Stanley Okumbi.

He had brought with him a glittering record, including securing Gambia’s qualification to the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time, helping Burkina Faso qualify for Afcon in 2013 and 2017, as well as guiding USM Algiers to CAF Champions League semi-finals.