Last year, Fifa handed former Harambee Stars defender George Owino a 10-year ban for manipulating a 2010 World Cup qualification match between Kenya and Nigeria in Nairobi in 2009.
Then last Tuesday, it made public disturbing findings involving manipulation of local football matches by footballers, coaches and administrators.
The world football governing body then handed lengthy bans to four Kenyan Premier League players after they were found guilty of fixing matches.
For his key role in the manipulation of match results, Ugandan player George Mandela was banned for life, while three Kenyans — Moses Chikati, Festus Okiring and Festo Omukoto — were suspended for four years and warned about their future conduct in the sport.
The players were found guilty of manipulating matches involving Kakamega Homeboyz in the league last season.
This development highlights a worrying trend in our football, where broke players with almost no pay are seemingly lured into manipulating football matches by shadowy people.
It has been whispered that the vice is rampant but little action has been taken. Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and Kenyan Premier League (KPL) must take a proactive role to help in apprehending the culprits and also run sensitisation programmes condemning the vice that would aim to educate the players.
Match manipulation is a dangerous vice that seriously brings into question the integrity of “the beautiful game” that is football and those involved in it.
The police should, in fact, be engaged to investigate the suspects, and those found guilty handed lengthy jail sentences to help in stamping out this bad and unsporting practice.
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