Kenya's clean sweep

KCA chairman Sharad Ghai: in failing health © Cricinfo Enlarge

In recent months the KCA has looked increasingly isolated. It has weathered a storm of criticism, both from inside Kenya and internationally, for some time, but its decision to suspend the powerful Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association in 2002 really escalated the crisis, which has left the KCA bankrupt, both financially and morally.

Of late, it was struggling on despite opposition from almost the entire cricket community inside the country. It was reliant on a constitution that gave enough votes to mysterious provincial associations while denying the vast majority of clubs any voice. As Ayacko pointed out, it hasn't had any elections since 1997.

Ayacko also hinted at what many have suspected for years, that the KCA's accounts are a mess, when he said that it "cannot account for huge sums of monies." Critics have repeatedly demanded to know what happened to the millions earned from tournaments such as the LG Trophy in 1999, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2000 and the World Cup in 2003, all of which were at least partially hosted in Kenya. Satisfactory answers have never been forthcoming.

In April, the government made it clear to the ICC that it was deeply unhappy with the way the KCA was being run, and while the ICC could not, under its own rules, get directly involved, it is thought it began to take a closer look at the way its grants and payments were being used. It stepped in to stop money which was intended for development being used to pay salaries, as well as demanding a constitutional review, and made it publicly clear that the KCA had to get its house in order.

Signs that things were getting worse came with the strike of many leading African players in October, caused almost entirely because of anger at their treatment by the KCA. As the year ended it became increasingly clear that the situation was coming to a head. Debtors piled up and discontent escalated. And on the field, the side was clearly in serious decline.

As the net closed, attempts were made to quell discontent with talk of one-day tournaments and multi million-pound sponsorships from unidentified foreign sources. Cricinfo's investigations failed to unearth any evidence to support these claims.

The failing health of Sharad Ghai, the man who has effectively run the KCA for several years, probably escalated the government's action, and there are signs that many within the KCA saw the writing on the wall. Three members of the executive committee resigned in December, and some remaining officials began to make overtures to the disenfranchised.

The KCA survived a similar move by the government in 2002, using the courts to rule the action illegal, and the board's opponents are not celebrating too enthusiastically quite yet. There remains a real possibility that the rump of the executive might try to use the law again, but two and a bit years on, their position looks considerably weaker.

The interim committee appointed by the government will sit until April when the new constitution should be ready for approval. The signs are that this will empower the stakeholders and in so doing ensure that the KCA, or whatever body replaces it, cannot in the future be run by factions so at odds with the rank and file.

It is also to be hoped that the KCA's sizable debts and tarnished reputation - the reasons that sponsors have been impossible to attract despite success in the 2003 World Cup - will be wiped clean and the new body can start afresh. It will be interesting to see what emerges about the way the whole organisation has been run in the coming months.

It is too early to count chickens, but this could be the day that Kenyan cricket was reborn. It's been a long time coming and there is considerable ground to make up. Nevertheless, it's the first step forward in quite some time.