Harambee Stars risk eviction from Egypt hotel

Sports CS Amina Mohammed (centre) having lunch with Harambee Stars players in Cairo. Harambee Stars' preparations for Thursday's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match could be hampered following reports the team is on the verge of being thrown out of the Africana hotel in Alexandria owing to delay in making payments. PHOTO | FILE |

What you need to know:

  • This development comes amid a public spat between Sports PS Kirimi Kaberia and FKF president Nick Mwendwa.
  • Mwendwa has accused Kaberia over consistently denying the team funds, but Kaberia has maintained he will not release any more funds unless FKF fully accounts for the Sh244 million it received to prepare Stars for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations

Harambee Stars' preparations for Thursday's 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match could be hampered following reports the team is on the verge of being thrown out of the Africana hotel in Alexandria owing to delay in making payments.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) secretary general Barry Otieno confirmed this development in a short statement on the eve of the match.

He said: "Since Friday, Ministry officials have been promising they will settle the payment, regrettably this has not happened.

We have since been informed by the hotel that the team will be evicted and a few members of the technical team detained until payment is done."

Nation Sport has confirmed that that a contingent of 33, including captain Victor Wanyama, lead striker Michael Olunga and coach Francis Kimanzi are residing at the hotel.

The match was pushed to Alexandria as the country's capital, Cairo is hosting the U-23 Africa Cup of Nations.

In total, about Sh4 million is required to pull Stars out of this fix. It includes accommodation costs, local transport, water and visa fees.

Stars arrived in Alexandria on Tuesday and the government is tasked by law with the responsibility of paying the team's bills, including full board accommodation and player allowances.

This development comes amid a public spat between Sports PS Kirimi Kaberia and FKF president Nick Mwendwa.

Mwendwa has accused Kaberia over consistently denying the team funds, but Kaberia has maintained he will not release any more funds unless FKF fully accounts for the Sh244 million it received to prepare Stars for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

But Kaberia immediately refuted this development and instead accused FKF of being 'economical with the truth'.

"We have asked them (FKF) to either provide account details for the hotel they are in, but they insist the we send them the money in cash. They have refused to provide the details and so we’ve asked them to find a way out and then we shall reimburse them when they present the receipts," said Kaberia.

Otieno though had a different version of the events, accusing Kaberia of delaying the payments.

"Since Friday, Ministry officials have been promising they will settle the payment, regrettably this has not happened.

We have since been informed by the hotel that the team will be evicted and a few members of the technical team detained until payment is done."