Football Kenya Federation boss, Nick Mwendwa, has revealed how a secret visit by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, to the country reinforced his choice to vote for Ahmad Ahmad in Thursday’s CAF elections.
Mwendwa further declared the change of guard at the continental body also safeguards Kenya’s status as the hosts of the 2018 Africa Home Nations Championships (CHAN) as he finally broke his silence on which side of the divide he was during the historic poll.
He was speaking to Citizen Digital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia moments after Madagascan Ahmad ended Cameroonian Issa Hayatou 29-year reign as CAF President.
Ahmad, head of Madagascar’s football federation, won the election in the Ethiopian capital by 34 votes to Hayatou’s 20.
While Infantino’s whistle-stop 14 nation tour of Africa to lobby for the support for Ahmad was well publicised, the disclosure he slipped into the country by Mwendwa sums up the deep intrigues that precluded the 39th CAF General Congress.
On his part, Cecafa Secretary General Nicholas Musonye who had declared the East Africa region would vote as a bloc for Hayatou last week looked crestfallen when the shocking result was announced.
“Africans have made their decision and I hope Ahmad can deliver. I hope the new administration that’s coming in will continue running football well.
“It’s a surprise he won by that much but I’m not shocked. We have been seeing the sequence of events since Monday and it all pointed to what we’ve witnessed today,” Musonye told Citizen Digital.
