Kenyan Premier League and Zeb Strong Foundation wish to thank members of The Press who came to the Kamiti Maximum Prison on Thursday 13th June 2019 to provide coverage for our event at the correctional facility.

However, due to administrative changes at the Prison, we were unable to secure access for The Press and their equipment to cover the event inside the facility.

The Inmates Premier League is a long-term project and, therefore, with more events lined up to take place at Kamiti, we will work on having better arrangements in place for The Press to provide coverage in future.

We thank the Kamiti Prison Management for supporting this project and also making it possible for us to take photos of the trophy and medal presentation using a mobile phone.

The inaugural Kamiti Maximum Prison Inmates Premier League was won by Morocco FC. Other teams which participated in the competition were Academica FC, Academy FC, Alaska FC, Alaska Jnr FC, Black Star FC, Blue Sky FC, Gunners FC, Hamas FC, Kadhiani FC, M.O.G FC, Mathare FC, and Taqwa FC.

The golden boot award went to Erick “Spring” Salim of Alaska FC who topped the scoring charts with 49 goals.

Mathare United Legends, led by current AFC Leopards assistant coach, Anthony Kimani, played an exhibition match with Kamiti AllStars. Mathare United Legends won the match 4-2.

Anthony Kimani is also the ambassador of the Inmates Premier League and speaking later during the trophy and medals presentation ceremony, he hailed Morocco FC for their consistency and challenged the other 12 teams to dethrone the league champions next season.

“Morocco FC won this league because they have been consistent. They will be the team to beat next season and I urge the other teams to give them a tough challenge by adjusting their targets upwards and work on achieving them one match at a time. Focus will be very key in achieving that goal,” Kimani said.

KPL CEO Jack Oguda outlined plans which are being worked on to improve the Inmates Premier League next season.

“Next season we will plan capacity building activities aimed at improving the skills and knowledge of referees, coaches, and first aiders. This way, we will get more people involved in the sport,” the KPL CEO added.

There was more reason to smile for the inmates as uniforms (jerseys, shorts, and socks) were presented to the six best teams. The donation of uniforms was courtesy of SportPesa, who are the title sponsors of the Kenyan Premier League.

SportPesa

There was more reason to smile for the inmates as uniforms (jerseys, shorts, and socks) were presented to the three best teams. The donation of uniforms was courtesy of SportPesa, who are the title sponsors of the Kenyan Premier League.

ABOUT INMATES PREMIER LEAGUE

Why the Inmates Football Project?

Among the key goals of KPL is to undertake new programmes within and among our clubs for contributing to the community and national development and achieving greater national unity. A number of former Kenyan Premier League players have fallen into crime and ended up in the correctional facilities bringing the name of football and footballers into disrepute. We, therefore, want to give hope to the inmates immediately, during, and after serving their term in the following ways:

  • To improve engagement between the inmates and prison officers hence impart positively on their work;
  • To engage the inmates and help them avoid the use of drugs and illegal substances in prison institutions;
  • To ameliorate the problem of congestion and overcrowding in prisons;
  • To have effective rehabilitators among the inmates in place within the prison institutions;
  • To improve the prison staff welfare and have entertainment through sports, arts & culture.
  • To support ongoing projects within the prison institutions.

Why start the Inmates Premier League?

Most of the prisoners at Kamiti Main Prison and Naivasha Prison are either condemned or serving a sentence of more than 10 years. It is quite hard for a normal human being to serve this kind of sentence without programmes being thrown in. We all know that if one is left alone, he may start looking for other options that are not right at all; Drugs is a perfect example.

Some of the inmates are footballers who were passionate about the game and were looking to build their lives around it but due to many circumstances, they opted to engage themselves in a life of crime that led to their arrest and imprisonment.

Knowing that if their employers (football clubs) had invested well in medical equipment for their injuries, paid them their salaries well and in due time and also engage them off the field of play, they would have been better men in the society.

No one is beyond hope and that’s why the Inmates Premier League (IPL) initiative will achieve the following:

  1. Keep the inmates engaged and there will be no room for activities that will further destroy their lives.
  2. Increase their skills as players, match officials, and managers of the beautiful game.
  3. Bring the transformation of behaviour in all aspects of life.
  4. Bring a reconciliatory spirit among the inmates, wardens and the society at large.
  5. Enable inmates to experience what is experienced by other professional footballers in the professionally run league.
  6. Be a tool to create awareness and offer solutions on various problems faced by the inmates thus leading to the transformation of correctional facilities.

ABOUT KENYAN PREMIER LEAGUE

KPL Overview

KPL is an affiliate of Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and is registered as a private company limited by shares and was incorporated on October 31, 2003, under Cap. 486 of the Companies Act of the laws of Kenya. The Kenyan Premier League is the biggest League in Kenya and is owned, managed and run by the 18 participating Premier League Clubs who are the Shareholders with FKF holding one special share of the Company.

The League manages the following events: League (306 matches), KPL Super Cup, KPL Top 8 Knockout Tournament, and KPL U20 Championship.

Mission

KPL’s mission is to build professionalism on and off the field in Kenya through its participating clubs, coaches, players and referees and ensure they always act together for the good of our sport, nation and for the development of the area’s youth.

Key goals

  1. a)to raise the professional standards and performance of our clubs, coaches, players and referees;
  2. b)to improve the competitiveness and attractiveness of our league for fans, sponsors and media;
  3. c)to secure and use sponsorships and other revenue to strengthen the future of our league and our clubs;
  4. d)to provide a professional and competitive basis for our clubs and our national teams to represent our country in international competitions;
  5. e)to undertake new programmes within and among our clubs for contributing to the community and national development and achieving greater national unity;
  6. f)to contribute to the improvement of football in our country and abroad through cooperation with other clubs and associations in and outside Kenya and with CECAFA, CAF and FIFA.

Governance Structure

The top decision-making body is the Governing Council which consists of the 18 Club Chairmen and FKF President. The Chairman of the League Champions becomes the Chairman of the Company while the chairmen of the second & third-placed take the positions of 1st Vice Chairman & 2nd Vice Chairman respectively. The Executive Committee which is the implementing body is elected based to ensure the balance between institution-based clubs, community-based clubs, and regions. The secretariat is headed by the Chief Executive officer who is also the secretary of the Governing Council and Executive Committee.

ABOUT ZEB STRONG FOUNDATION

Zeb Montgomery was a gifted athlete and artist who loved to give. Born on January 8, 2001, Zeb began playing soccer at the age of 4. He was also a cross-country runner and won medals for himself and his middle school team. Zeb had a vision of giving away soccer balls, tell his story, and help people but unfortunately passed away on November 10th, 2015 at 2:20 pm at the age of 14 years after battling Acute Myeloid Leukemia for 18 months.

Zeb’s Foundation is a non-profit organization which was created to help carry out the vision Zeb had. Our goal is to continue to telling Zeb’s story, helping people, give away soccer balls, and organize soccer leagues and tournaments in prisons and slum areas. Zeb Foundation is also involved in prison ministry for the last 7 years through its director Bishop Joseph Kirai (alias Kariz).