Mashemeji derby: Musonye threatens to ban Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards
- Dennis Kegengo
- Mar 25
- 2 min read
Photo Credit - Football Kenya Federation.
2024 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) and 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Local Organising Committee (LOC) chairman Nicholas Musonye has threatened to ban Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards from using Nyayo Stadium if a stone is thrown, or a seat broken during Mashemeji derby.
The two Kenyan giants will face off for the first time this season, having seen the first round fixture of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League postponed twice owing to a lack of stadium to host the game.
However, FKF have managed to secure Nyayo Stadium for the derby, and this comes a day after the venue was opened and hosted the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying fixture between Kenya and Gabon on Sunday.
“We want to ask Kenyans to have good manners, so that if there is a match here, I don’t want to mention the match, if there is going to be a match here and a seat is destroyed, those two teams will not play here again,” Musonye told Pan-Africa Football.
“The bad manners is you have no ticket and you want to force yourself in, I want to thank them (Kenya fans) they have made some improvement, they have improved, but the bad manners of coming in to force their way through when you have no ticket, I want them to change on that one, but I am happy there is a big improvement.”
Musonye continued: “If you see the area of the media tribune, there is no barrier there, so it is easy for fans from this end to easily close over, so once we are done with this infrastructure arrangement, that will be secure, even the media tribune will be very secure, we will not have a problem.
“Please bear with us for now in that area, we are finalizing the infrastructure process, once that is done, everyone will be secure, fans, players and the media will be secure.”
He concluded: “We have a security plan, and security is key for the CHAN and AFCON, and part of the plan is to have a private security, in the entire system of CHAN and AFCON.
"We are aware of the need for proper security because without security we are not safe, so private security, plus this other security arrangements will be put in place to ensure that our people are secure, our visitors are secure.”
Kenya will co-host both CHAN and AFCON alongside Uganda and Tanzania.