NAIROBI — On a bright August morning in 2023, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa stood before the cameras at the Boma Inn and made a promise that has since become a bitter metaphor for Kenyan football. When pressed on exactly how much cash the 18 Premier League clubs would pocket from the newly signed broadcast deal with Azam TV, Mwendwa dodged.

“I am stuck in traffic, but I am on my way,” he quipped, assuring stakeholders that a detailed breakdown was imminent. “When the road clears, I will stop with another big announcement.”

Today, nearly three years later, the road has yet to clear. The traffic jam of opacity remains, and the “finer details” of the $9.1 million (approx. KES 1.17 billion) agreement are still a closely guarded secret. For the club chairmen struggling to pay salaries and the fans wondering why their league lags behind Tanzania’s, the silence is deafening.

The Numbers That Don't Add Up

On paper, the seven-year partnership looked like a lifeline. The deal was structured to start at $1 million (approx. KES 129 million) for the 2023/24 season, with a built-in increment of $100,000 (KES 12.9 million) annually. By now, in the 2025/26 season, the league’s broadcast value should sit at roughly $1.2 million.

However, the math on the ground tells a different story. Clubs report receiving sporadic grants that barely cover match-day logistics, let alone the wage bills of professional athletes. The initial excitement has curdled into suspicion.

• The Headline Figure: $9.1 million (KES 1.17 billion) over seven years.
• The Annual Reality: After a 15% withholding tax deduction in Tanzania, the initial $1 million payout reportedly shrank to $850,000 before it even reached Kandanda House.
• The Missing Breakdown: To date, no club chairman has publicly confirmed seeing the full contract text.

A Tale of Two Leagues

The secrecy is particularly stinging when cast against the backdrop of the deal’s origin: Tanzania. Azam TV, the pay-TV giant, has transformed the Tanzanian Premier League into a commercial juggernaut, pumping in over $100 million. In contrast, the Kenyan deal was criticized by former FKF boss Sam Nyamweya as “peanuts” at its inception.

While Tanzanian clubs like Yanga and Simba SC operate with budgets that rival mid-tier European teams, Kenyan giants Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards are left fighting for scraps. The disparity raises a critical question: Did FKF negotiate a bad deal, or is the money simply getting lost in the “traffic” Mwendwa warned us about?

The Cost of Silence

For the average Kenyan football fan, this administrative obscurity has real-world consequences. When clubs cannot budget because they don't know their guaranteed income, players go unpaid. When players go unpaid, the quality of the game drops, and match-fixing risks rise. The broadcast deal was supposed to professionalize the league; instead, it has become another layer of the fog of war that shrouds Kenyan football administration.

“We are grateful for what we get, but we cannot plan for the future with blindfolds on,” a Premier League club chairman told Streamline News on condition of anonymity, fearing victimization. “We are told the money is coming, but we never know how much or when. It is hand-to-mouth existence.”

As the league trundles through its third season under this partnership, the “historic” deal feels less like a commercial triumph and more like a mystery novel with missing pages. Until the FKF clears the traffic and puts the contract on the table, the true value of the Kenyan game will remain a matter of speculation, not accounting.