Ex-AFC Leopards Chairman Dismisses Claims of Abandoned Kasarani Land Bid as Internal Rift Widens

AFC Leopards have found themselves at a dramatic crossroads as a fierce ideological and logistical battle erupts over the ownership of a historic 20-acre parcel of land in Kasarani.

The legendary Kenyan football club, affectionately known to millions of fans across East Africa as Ingwe, is currently split between two competing visions for its future stability.

The development comes in a time that the current administration believes the decades-old state promise is an elusive ghost worth abandoning, the immediate former leadership insists that the club is on the very precipice of securing a permanent home. 

The roots of the dispute trace back to an ancestral gift that has long teased the imagination of the club’s passionate fanbase.

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Originally allocated to the multi-time league champions by former President Daniel arap Moi in 1992, the Kasarani land was envisioned as the foundation for a modern sports complex that would transition the club from a nomadic tenant into a self-sustaining powerhouse.

Decades of administrative red tape, shifting government regimes, and missing files have kept that dream confined to dusty archives. The structural breakdown in communication between successive club leadership blocks has now brought the explosive debate back into the public glare.

The immediate former head of the club’s executive committee has vehemently rejected recent declarations that the pursuit of the state-allocated property has stalled.

The veteran administrator believes that throwing away the progress made with high-ranking government ministries would be an unforgivable betrayal of the club’s heritage. He maintains that a meticulous legal and bureaucratic trail exists, contradicting claims that the parcel is untraceable or nonexistent.

“It is my humble request that they kindly remind him of the Kasarani land discussion he previously held with the AFC Leopards last delegation, together with the then Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Hon. Ababu Namwamba, and the Director General of Sports Kenya, Mr. Pius Metto, “ wrote former AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda.

High Stakes Diplomacy and the State House Paper Trail

The logistical timeline presented by the former office highlights a series of high-level state engagements that reportedly brought the club to the verge of a historic breakthrough. According to the former chairman, the process involved direct consultations with the highest offices in the land, aiming to formalize the allocation into a modern title deed. He warns that abandoning the campaign at this stage would erase years of delicate diplomatic lobbying and institutional memory.

The transition of power within the club appears to have created a vacuum where vital state commitments are being lost in translation. The former leadership claims that the paperwork left behind was not a collection of empty promises but a functional roadmap waiting for a final signature from the executive arm of government.

“Having done the entire process of getting the 20-acre land, we left State House with the understanding that a Cabinet Memorandum would be presented to the Cabinet to finalize the remaining process. It is my sincere hope and prayer that the delegation visiting State House tomorrow can help complete the remaining steps and earn the honour of securing land for AFC Leopards. This will be a historic opportunity to secure AFC Leopards’ Future. Shamba Iko!”

The Search for a Real Home Versus Institutional Paperwork

The passionate defense of the Kasarani asset serves as a direct rebuttal to the current executive committee’s recent strategic pivot. The current office holders argue that the club cannot afford to waste precious time chasing ancestral promises while contemporary rivals build modern training facilities. They paint a picture of administrative exhaustion, describing a frustrating cycle of visiting surveyors and land registries without ever seeing a physical beacon on the ground.

The current administration believes that financial independence and corporate partnerships offer a more realistic path to structural development than relying on state bureaucracy. They argue that a clean break from the past is necessary to protect the mental and financial well-being of the leadership team.

“On the Kasarani land, I would like us to forget that thing. Let us forget it completely,” Ambani said. “Why should we follow something we do not know where it is or if it exists? I don’t want to die early. I still have a lot to lead. I want to take this team to the next level.”

“On the Kasarani land, I did not inherit it; I found it in the notes and tried to follow it alongside the Secretary General. We went to the surveyor, and all we were shown were some papers. They were telling us it is here on the paper, so why doesn’t he take you there and show you the land?” he posed.

Private Land Acquisition and the Vision for a Modern Training Complex

The decision to look away from government assistance marks a radical shift in how community-owned clubs in Kenya approach asset acquisition. The current leadership plans to leverage corporate benefactors and independent fundraising streams to buy land on the open market, free from political strings and historical disputes.

“We decided to abandon that pursuit and to look for land which has got nothing to do with the government, purchase it with the help of some of our benefactors, and then put up a stadium,” Ambani said.

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The ultimate goal remains the creation of a commercialized, multi-purpose environment that can generate reliable revenue streams for the club, mirroring successful models established by corporate institutions across Nairobi.

“AFC Leopards needs to acquire a place we can term it as a home .We don’t need our own stadium for a start but just a sports Training Complex where the Team can be Training ,Be Accommodated in terms of camping ,Where the office can also be operating ,and also need to offer other salient facilities that can offer revenue to the club ..Something similar of South C’s MOW Club ,Public Works Sports Club ,Parklands Sports Club ,KCB Leadership Centre in Karen .”