The chief of Kenyan football, Barry Omondi Otieno, has been banned for six months by CAF for disputing Covid-19 results for Kenya national team during their 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Comoros.
Otieno, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Football Kenya Federation (FKF), was accused of tearing apart PCR tests copies of the Harambee Stars players which forced the Nations Cup qualifier Group G match to start 30 minutes late.
In a statement on Friday, CAF said its Disciplinary Board had found Otieno guilty for causing a long stand-off for the match which the home team won 2-1. The African football governing body also imposed the same on the team’s team manager Ronny Oyando.
“On the day of the match the General Secretary of the Comoros Football Federation came in early to take their PCR tests, and he was met with refusal from the Kenyan national team’s management, they delayed the process for three hours until they finally gave in,” read the statement from CAF.
“The test results arrived just a few minutes before kick-off, during warm-up, due to the said delay. The Commissioner did not get the chance to check the results himself as Barry Otieno, the General Secretary of the Football Kenya Federation, and Ronny Oyando, the Kenyan team manager disputed the results as soon as they have become aware of them and snatched them from his hands and tore them apart.
“According to the PCR tests copies that were acquired after the match, four players have all tested positive before the match yet took part in the game and risked the contamination of the opposing team as well as their fellow teammates and all officials that were involved in match 94 of the Total African Cup of Nations Qualifiers.”
CAF statement added; “In terms of CAF Statutes and Regulations, in terms of the Covid-19 FAQs and in terms of Articles 82, 83, 133, 134 and 98 of CAF Disciplinary Code, the CAF Disciplinary Board has decided to: impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Otieno from all football activities relating to Caf, impose a ban of 6 [six] months on Oyando from all football activities relating to Caf and impose upon your Federation a financial sanction of 20.000 USD [Twenty Thousand US Dollars.”
Kenya’s loss against Comoros left Jacob Mulee’s charges on three points after four Group G games, five points behind the islanders.
Harambee Stars will host Pharaohs on March 22 before wrapping up their campaign with a trip to Lome against Togo on March 30.
