Council for East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) secretary general Nicholas Musonye has warned that the body will take stern measures against clubs that have decided to withdrawal from the 2013 Kagame Cup.
This follows the announcement that Kenya Premier League Champions Tusker FC have joined Tanzania’s Yanga FC and Simba on the list of clubs that have pulled out of the competition slated to take place in Darfur, Sudan.
“Our rules are very clear. A team that pulls out of any of our events after confirming is liable to face disciplinary action. The executive committee will decide on the best action to take before the competition kicks off,” he told Goal.com
Musonye insists that all teams apart from Tusker, Yanga and Simba from Tanzania will be in Sudan for the two week event confirming that the tournament will go on with no plans to change the venue but couldn’t leave without attacking Kenya FA.
“We expect all the other teams to take part and for this reason we cannot move the tournament elsewhere for the sake of only three clubs. We will go ahead as planned,” he added.
He also told off Football Kenya Federation (FKF) for criticizing the body and threatening to pull out of its activities.
“They never confirmed if they can host the tournament and only Sudan wrote expressing their readiness to host. We can do without Kenya in our events and take their threats lightly,” he said.
Musonye was reacting to Kawowo Sports’ story that Tusker has pulled out of the regional event due to security concerns.
Tusker chairman Musyoki said on Thursday that the club has already written to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) informing them of the decision to withdraw.
“It is true; we will not play in the tournament. We have written to the federation and CECAFA informed them of our decision basing on security fears in the region we have been allocated to play our matches”, he said.
In reaction to Musonye’s warning, Kenya FA President Sam Nyamweya bashed tournament organizers for risking the lives of participating teams by taking them to Darfur.
“We are unhappy that Cecafa never consulted us before making a decision to take the tournament to Darfur.”
Earlier, Sudan giant clubs El Merrickh and Al Hilal also refused to take part in the tournament and were replaced by Merrick El Fasher and Hilal Kadougli.
Express FC, Uganda’s representatives are preparing for the competition and ready to be part of it.
