In Somalia, the Islamic rulers have decreed that no sports team or individual athlete can leave the country without a letter of permission from the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). This also applies to the national football team that was told by clerics to “defeat Catholic Ethiopia” or not return home from a tournament for East and Central African Football Associations.

In Kenya, the Kenya Premier League has reconfirmed its commitment to ensure corruption-free football and continue its league matches. It happens in the face of continued political pressure on the clubs and the attempt to establish another football league under the auspices of the caretaker committee that has replaced the Kenya Football Federation.

In Somalia, the national Olympic Committee and the country’s new Islamic rulers are working on a framework for the practice of sport in the country. The Islamic Courts Union decreed in June that sport is a “satanic act” but recently one leading sheik said that the Islamists are not totally against sport. Instead they want to encourage sports of Islam.

The International Associations of Athletics Federation (IAAF) uses powerful weapons in an attempt to stop political interference. IAAF has barred Algerian track and field athletes from all international competitions after Algeria’s athletic federation was dissolved by the country’s Minister of sport, Yahia Guidoum, in September.

The ongoing drama in Kenyan football took yet another twist this Monday when Kenya’s Football Federation (KFF) and Kenya Premier League (KPL) announced an agreement of collaboration aiming to reinstate order in Kenyan football and relieve the country of its suspension from FIFA.

A week after FIFA’s decision to suspend Kenya from international football, the Kenyan government cracks down hard on clubs as well as individuals in Kenyan football.

Affairs in Kenyan football went from grotesque to tragic today when Kenyan minister of sport, Maina Kamanda, made the decision to dissolve Kenya’s Football Federation and at the same time deport one of the federation’s strongest and most enterprising critics, the Canadian born sports entrepreneur Bob Munro.

In Nigeria, the football association has elected Abdullahi Sanni Lulu as its new chairman under the watchful eye of FIFA secretary general Urs Linsi. On the surface all seems well, but in this background analysis by Olykayode Thomas from the Nigerian Guardian it turns out the elections were fixed. In fact, the analysis was written a week before the election and still predicted the outcome with great accuracy. See how one man – Amos Adamu, a director in the Ministry of Sports and Social Development – directs affairs in the NFA and holds the media in the palm of his hand.