Kenyan FA Wants Match-Fixing Criminalized | Soccer/Soccer

Kenya's football federation has asked the country's parliament to approve laws that criminalize match-fixing.

The request follows an investigation where multiple players and officials were suspended earlier this year.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa believes the absence of local laws to address the issue has led to a rise in cases.

He said: "The federation can only take action against match-fixers who are our members but this is not enough."

At a hearing of the Sports and Culture Committee, Mwendwa told MPs: "We have cases where individuals suspected of match-fixing are arrested and presented in a court of law, only for the cases to be dismissed for lack of legislative provisions to deal with the problem.

"We need to have people arrested and punished so we can end this vice."

Mwendwa added inadequate financial resources at both club and federation level means teams and match officials can become vulnerable to match-fixing gangs, stating this was particularly true while the FKF was under a suspension handed out by the government over an alleged misappropriation of funds.

"The vice took root in our leagues between November 2021 and October 2022 when FKF was suspended," he said. "Match-fixers took advantage of the fact that there was no regulator with the expertise to detect and track what was happening."

Mwendwa also told the committee that match-fixing is mostly run by syndicates operating out of Asia who approach players and officials to manipulate games.

"When football is manipulated it ruins the authenticity of the game which drives fans away," he added.

"It's clear that match-fixing is a massive threat to football as a sport and an industry."