Former Kenyan International footballer MacDonald Mariga has urged Football Kenya Federation (FKF) delegates from Migori to assist him clinch the FKF leadership.
Mr. Mariga impressed upon the delegates to help him and his running mate, Mr Hussein Mohammed win the elections slated for December this year.
Mariga, who made 35 appearances for the national team Harambee Stars between 2003 and 2018, will support Mr Mohammed as his deputy in the forthcoming elections.
Speaking in Migori Town’s Tolan hotel, after meeting with the delegates in Migori, Mr Mariga stated that he backs a bottom-up agenda where he will focus on empowering youths from the grassroots level to be able to feed the national team and ensure that Kenyan leagues are highly competitive in international tournaments.
“We have to empower the youth, through the bottom-up model, to be able to feed the national team and by empowering the youths we will be able to make our leagues and national team more competitive,” added the once popular Kenyan footballer.
He noted that the existence of Kenya Secondary school games has been among the key sources of footballers and strategies to nurture talents from the grass-root level.
“I am a product of the school game team, which I participated whole heartedly and through that, I became who am I today,” he stated.
Additionally, he said that there is a need to popularize local leagues and run them professionally to enable them attract investors to pump in more funds.
For instance, he said, Kenya Premier League and the National Super League crave for this spirit.
Moreover, he outlined that the ongoing construction of the football professional academy stadium in Nambale Busia County which is 90 per cent done, will help boost talent acquisition in the region.
The former skipper also highlighted the challenges that FKF is undergoing, citing inadequate stadiums, corruption, inadequate funds, and unprofessional handling of the leagues, all of which, he promised to address and woo sponsors to support the leagues.
Mariga was unveiled to the Migori delegates by Hussein Mohammed, his running mate for the upcoming FKF elections.
The duo is campaigning under the slogan, “a fresh start” promising a new era for Kenyan football under the ticket Hussein Mariga.
By Beryl Akinyi and George Agimba
