FKF President Urged to Have 'Man-to-Man Talk' with Nick Mwendwa in Bid to End League Dilemma

AFC Leopards chairman Boniface Ambani has offered pragmatic advice to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Hussein Mohammed on how to break the ongoing legal deadlock delaying the start of the 2026/27 FKF Premier League season.

The kickoff for the top-flight domestic league remains stalled following a court case filed by Kariobangi Sharks, a club owned by former FKF president Nick Mwendwa, challenging relegation and promotion rules.

Speaking on NTV’s Sport On, Boniface Ambani urged Hussein Mohammed to bypass bureaucratic channels in favour of private diplomacy to resolve the crisis and get the ball rolling again.

The current domestic dispute stems from Kariobangi Sharks' decision to seek judicial intervention over disputed FKF promotion and relegation framework changes implemented at the close of last season.

With court injunctions effectively freezing league activities, top-tier clubs across the country have been left in limbo, forced to rely exclusively on friendly matches and regional pre-season tournaments to maintain fitness.

While legal arguments continue to stall official fixtures, Ambani argues that the fundamental conflict is not purely legal, but personal and political, requiring a discreet, face-to-face resolution between key stakeholders to prevent further structural damage to local football.

Sharing his personal perspective, Ambani revealed that he directly advised FKF President Hussein Mohammed to approach former federation chief Nick Mwendwa away from the media spotlight and official delegations.

Drawing on his own administrative experience, the Ingwe chairman emphasised that sensitive football disputes are best negotiated in quiet settings where both parties can compromise without public pressure:

"It's man-to-man talk. In one of our meetings, I told President Hussein Mohammed that whoever is in court is Kariobangi Sharks. The owner of Kariobangi Sharks is the former president of the Federation. Can you kindly... just have a man-to-man talk,” Boniface Ambani said.

“Just call him. When you go to talk to him, don't go with a lot of people. You just call him, and then you go to maybe a hotel, you know, where you know some people won’t be there. And then you and him sit down, talk, iron things out. And then from there, you just walk out from there."

To reinforce his point, Ambani cited his early tenure at AFC Leopards, where he inherited a mountain of crippling legal challenges and financial claims.

Rather than allowing prolonged litigation to stall club operations, Ambani swallowed his pride and met individual litigators face-to-face to negotiate settlements privately.

He stressed that taking a humble, direct approach cleared the club's legal docket, a formula he believes will yield identical success for the national league setup if top administrators swallow their professional pride in favour of an out-of-court resolution.

"I'm telling you from my point of view, when I go to Leopards, there were so many court cases, so many, a thousand and one. And then I knew I wasn't going to work with all these cases. What am I supposed to do? I just took the humble pie there to this guy. Boss, how much? Go slow on it,” Boniface Ambani added.

“How much? What am I owing you? And then from there, you know, that's how I was able to solve all those things. That's why all those cases, I solved them. Because I met one-on-one. One-on-one with everyone. I never went with anybody. One-on-one. And then from there, we sorted it out. So, it's the same thing that's happening here. They could have just sat down and then talked."

Ambani's call for urgent dialogue comes at a crucial juncture for local football. With teams like Gor Mahia and Tusker FC actively competing in CAF fixtures without domestic match fitness, resolving the Kariobangi Sharks dispute remains the single most critical priority for stakeholders, sponsors, and players alike.