The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Team Blue presidential candidate Doris Petra made a major stride towards victory in the upcoming FKF national elections after 53 delegates endorsed her joint ticket with running mate Nick Mwendwa.
A record 53 delegates, while attending a two-day Team Blue retreat held in Naivasha declared their support for the candidature of Petra and Mwendwa, the current FKF President, who is now running as Petra’s deputy in the federation elections scheduled to be held on December 7, 2024 in Nairobi.
In addition, four delegates, who are staunch supporters of Team Blue sent their apologies as they were unable to travel for the retreat, owing to other commitments but confirmed their unwavering support for Petra and Mwendwa as well as the entire Team Blue National Executive Committee candidates.
With the latest tally, Team Blue top brass led by Petra and Mwendwa have exuded confidence of bagging more numbers to their campaign as several other delegates remain un-affiliated to camps and are expected to join the bandwagon once they are sure of the direction of the tide.
During the retreat in Naivasha, Doris Petra and Nick Mwendwa used the forum to explain to the delegates their agenda in the growth of football in Kenya once they are handed the mandate to lead for the next four years during the elections which will be conducted at Kasarani Stadium.
Team Blue recorded an emphatic win at the county level elections which were successfully held across the country with Team Blue winning in 32 out of 48 branches while 24 clubs have declared support for team bluet to head into the polls with a major head start and an important show of confidence in the leadership of Nick and Doris at the helm of the federation.
Petra thanked the delegates for their unequivocal support pledging to serve football’s best interests noting that she has the experience, ability and willingness to continue with the development of football in Kenya.
“I am indeed very humbled by this endorsement. I want to thank you for showing support to the course. Having been in active football, I know the agenda that we are clear about and as a loyal deputy, I have been supportive to Nick so I know that we shall continue to develop football. I am glad that results are all there to show in the growth of women and youth football and I promise with this endorsement and show of confidence in the leadership of team blue, we shall take football forward together,” Petra said.
The Petra- Mwendwa axis has anchored their agenda onto women football, youth development and capacity building for coaches, retired players and referees. During the last years when Mwendwa has been the FKF President with Petra as the FKF Deputy President, milestone achievements have been reached with the training of over 8,000 coaches who have attained different levels of CAF coaching licenses making Kenya among the countries that provide CAF Coaching instructors who are deployed by the continental body to train coaches in other countries.
Further, youth and women football have experienced a steady rise which culminated in Kenya playing at the FIFA under 17 women world cup in Dominican Republic last month while the men’s national Under 20 team has already qualified for the AFCON under 20 competition set to be held in 2025.
To underscore the development made under the watch of Mwendwa and Petra in women football, CAF has nominated the national women under 17 team junior starlets, the team coach Mildred Cheche and standout player Valery Nekesa for awards in the upcoming CAF 2024 awards in the women’s category.
Premier League side Shabana FC chairman Jared Nevaton said that his club supports Team Blue owing to the proven track record during the tenure of Nick and Doris in the last years, during the period which Shabana won the National Super League and earned promotion back to the premier league due to the support that FKF has accorded to clubs across various levels.
“I am proudly supporting team blue because, having been in football for long enough, I have seen the ability of Doris Petra and under the leadership of Nick Mwendwa and Petra, NSL and the Premier league have evolved into proper professional leagues. Both Doris and Nick have a proven track record and it is because of this record that today, we have more referees who are getting paid and our leagues have become big brands,” Nevaton said.
According to FKF Nakuru county branch chairman Francis Oliele and his Homabay counterpart
Maurice Ogweno, Team Blue under Petra and Nick is the winning team and having supported candidature at the county level, they pledged support for Petra at the top level to ensure that development is constant at both the county and national levels.
“I was elected by the Nakuru football stakeholders to drive the development of football in our county. My vision is in line with the vision that team blue shares and therefore, I am ready to vote blue on election day to make sure that we are together in propelling football both at county and national levels. My support for team blue is unconditional. It is purely based on the agenda that the team shares to grow football in the country as well as the proven track record which the team has done over the last eight years,” Oliele said.
Team Blue has projected to win more undecided delegates and drive the numbers to more than 60 with the typical strategy employed over the years keeps working to solidify support for Doris and Mwendwa. The strategy employed saw even former president Sam Nyamweya chicken out of the race.
Homabay chairman Maurice Ogweno said; “We have a federation leadership that has shown they know the direction we need to go as a country. We are going to support Doris and Nick so that we can continue with development which has been ongoing in Kenya. We are team blue to stay,” Maurice Ogweno said.
The retreat in Naivasha marked a major success with 53 delegates in attendance whereas other candidates have hardly managed to attract beyond 20 delegates to their meetings. Reports indicate that several candidates have been trying to lure team blue candidates to their side but with no success as Petra and Mwendwa engage a strategy to keep a close knit circle of supporters who believe in the course.
