Former Football Kenya Federation president Nick Mwendwa.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has officially written off the Sh123 million deposit paid for an Outside Broadcasting (OB) van that was never delivered—bringing to a close one of the most controversial and costly chapters in Kenyan football governance.
The revelation was made during the ninth FKF Congress held at Sportsview Hotel in Kasarani, Nairobi on Saturday.
According to FKF’s Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2024, the decision to write off the massive sum was made on May 24, 2024, following a recommendation from world football governing body, FIFA.
This came after a comprehensive review process involving liquidation administrators, legal advisors, and forensic auditors concluded that the funds paid to WTS Limited could not be recovered.
“We draw attention to note 15 in the annual report and financial statements in relation to the OB van,” states the federation’s financial report.
“During the period under review, the FIFA-Bureau Development Committee passed a resolution approving the write-off of OB VAN deposit of Sh123,175,693 on May 24, 2024.
The decision was made following a thorough review process, where a follow-up process spanning four years with the input from liquidation administrators, legal advisors, and forensic auditors had shown that the funds paid to WTS Limited could not be recovered.”
In a projected presentation during the Congress, FKF Finance Committee chairman Luthers Mokua noted:
“It is important that the OB van, which carried a sum of Sh123m in current assets, and as advised by FIFA, has now been written off.”
The write-off of the colossal deposit now stands as one of the most expensive ghost projects in Kenyan football history, and a glaring black mark on the tainted legacy of former FKF president Nick Mwendwa, who vacated office on December 7, 2024, following the election of businessman Hussein Mohammed as the new FKF president.
The origins of the doomed OB van project trace back to 2016, during Mwendwa’s tenure as FKF president. A meeting chaired by Mwendwa and attended by then-Chief Executive Officer Robert Muthomi and the National Executive Committee—FKF’s top decision-making body—was convened to explore how to best utilize hundreds of millions of shillings allocated by FIFA as annual development grants.
At the time, the idea of acquiring an OB van made economic sense.
South African-owned Pay-TV broadcaster SuperSport had recently stopped airing Kenyan Premier League matches, and FKF officials believed owning an OB van would fill the broadcasting gap.
FIFA approved the proposal, disbursed funds, and the OB van was reportedly acquired and delivered.
However, in a bizarre twist, the van was allegedly repossessed by SuperSport—the very company that had supposedly sold it.
FIFA began investigating the matter in 2019 and requested a detailed report from FKF.
