AFC Leopards’ chairman Ambani explodes over Mashemeji Derby officiating, calls out FKF
By Luke Oluoch, April 27, 2026AFC Leopards chairman Boniface Ambani has castigated the Football Kenya Federation (FKF), accusing it of complicity in the dwindling standards of match officiating in the country.
In a strongly worded tirade on Monday, April 27, 2026, following Leopards’ loss to Gor Mahia in the Mashemeji Derby, Ambani faulted the federation for prioritising cash stipends and grants from football governing bodies over addressing what he termed ‘systemic officiating failures’ across the national leagues.
Officiating mess
“FKF, your only work is fighting for money coming into the federation from FIFA, CAF, the government, etc. You are doing nothing of substance to improve the levels of officiating and football in this country. That is all you know…”
“You call meetings with all branches nationwide and spend millions on them, but you never fix the big monster in our football: poor officiating. You’ve turned your referees into match-fixers. Fix the monster in these leagues or just ship out,”
Officiating monster
“The monster is poor refereeing from the grassroots level to the top leagues. You just sit there. The moment your officials have to be escorted from stadiums under tight police security and pelted with bottles, that is when you should understand the state of our football. It has been going on for a long time, and you just sit there,” part of his statement read.
In a bold call to action, Ambani demanded the federation move past ‘showy boardroom meetings’ to fix the officiating crisis or resign. The chairman also took a veiled swipe at the Mashemeji Derby match official, FIFA referee Peter Waweru Kamaku.
The official’s performance in the hotly contested clash divided opinion, with many in the blue camp believing the officiating was biased.
Mashemeji controversies
Central to the fans’ frustration were the failure to send off Gor Mahia’s Enoch Morrison, who escaped a red card, and a contested penalty claim that was waved away.
“This is a FIFA referee, and look at what happened yesterday. Boss, I will never mince my words. We shall one day fix the menace at the federation… You’ve never formed committees to deal with this monster. Committees and discussions are always about who is aligning with whom. Nonsense,” he stated.
Ambani’s outburst comes shortly after the Gor Mahia chairman also cried foul over the state of officiating in the country just before the Sunday clash. In his own plea, the long-serving Gor chairman demanded that FKF Premier League clubs be accorded justice and fairness by match officials acting as independent arbiters of the game.