Former Confederation of East and Central Africa (CECAFA) Secretary General Nicholas Musonye has signified his intention to contest for the presidency of the Football Kenya Federation.
The 55-year-old football administrator, who resigned from steering the regional body last year, joins the likes of Sam Nyamweya, Twaha Mbarak and Seif Mutie for the seat that is currently held by Nick Mwendwa who has been at the helm since February 2016.
According to Musonye, this is in response to various calls from the football stakeholders that he joins the race to unseat Mwendwa.
“I am officially in the race. I have received numerous calls from stakeholders including administrators, clubs and referees who wanted me to give it a try. I have heeded the call and I will seek to work with everyone to better the game,” he said.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “My immediate target is to concentrate on winning the seat and God willing, I may consider pursuing my 2022 dream.” [/perfectpullquote]
The former sports journalist has questioned the current leadership for unending battles with other stakeholders.
“As a leader, you must be able to consult and give direction putting in mind everybody’s input. That has been lacking, hence so much negative energy around. That needs to be dealt with,” he noted.
Musonye also stated that is intention will be to work with county governments to help promote grassroots football and take care of former footballers’ welfare.
Born in Muranda village, Kakamega County, Musonye attended Muranda Primary School, Ingotse Secondary School and Kolanya High where he studied his ‘A’ levels.
He developed his love for football in primary school and went on to represent Ingotse in the district and provincial football games as an attacking midfielder.
Musonye later joined Kenya Institute of Mass Communication in Nairobi where he studied print journalism, and later on the Management University of Africa.
He worked at the now-defunct Kenya Times newspaper as a sports writer between 1983-1989 before in his own words, he was poached by the Nation media group and enjoyed a stint between 1989 and 1992.
Musonye also had a stint at the Standard and later with the BBC and Voice of America as the Africa sports correspondent while also consulting for Complete Football and East African Football magazines.
