Sports Cabinet Secretary Rashid Achesa has announced that action will be taken on disgraced Kenyan referee Aden Marwa after he was exposed by a BBC investigation on how match officials are bribed.
In addition, officials of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) have been summoned as the ministry looks into allegations of match fixing and bribery in local leagues.
“We have summoned the football officials and we are waiting for them to tell us exactly what happened. As a ministry we believe that we will take action against the referee,” he stated in Nyeri on Tuesday.
Marwa, who was set to officiate at the FIFA 2018 World Cup in Russia, was caught on camera accepting a $600 (Sh60,000) 'gift' in a hotel room from an undercover journalist posing as a Ghanaian football official.
The secretly recorded footage was taken during the Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) tournament.
[caption caption="CS Rashid Achesa"]
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The exposé by Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Anas sparked a major furore, and brought down top officials including Ghana FA President Kwesi Nyantakyi who was captured accepting $65,000 (Ksh 6.5 Million).
It saw Marwa step down from his Assistant Referee position at the World Cup, a job guaranteed to bring in not less than $25,000 (Ksh2.5 Million) and an extra match fee of $2000 (Ksh200,000) per game.
Achesa noted that there had been an upsurge of cases of doping and bribery as he promised to take decisive action.
"We will come out with a solution and ensure that we have a clean sports department going forward. The heads of all these agencies will be present so we expect a solution to the issues of bribery and doping," he stated.
Officials from the Ministry are meeting in Nyeri for a week in a bid to strategize on how to transform the sports sector, especially with recent disappointing performances in games such as football and cricket.
[caption caption="Aden Range Marwa"]
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