Former Sports Cabinet Secretary Ababu Namwamba has called on Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Hussein Mohamed and Vice President McDonald Mariga to put aside their differences and focus on preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).Download our Mozzart Sport app for more newsSpeaking to Sporty FM, Namwamba warned that protracted wrangles within FKF could derail Kenya’s preparations for the continental tournament, which the country will co-host alongside Uganda and Tanzania.“My message to FKF: please get your act together. There's too much at stake. Right now, it should be all hands on deck for AFCON 2027. We should be preparing the best atmosphere possible. So please, just stop all these wrangles.##NAJAVA_MECA_9981513##And you're a team that came into office just the other day. You looked like a very good team. You looked like a solid team. You looked like you had a good plan for Kenyan football. Please put aside your differences. My friend Hussein, my friend McDonald Mariga, put aside your differences and focus on this big agenda."Namwamba also urged FKF to ensure the domestic league runs smoothly, saying it can provide an important platform for building momentum ahead of AFCON 2027.McCarthy presses FKF to resolve issues affecting him and his assistants“And our national league, the Kenyan Premier League, would be the perfect platform to start preparing the country for AFCON. So we cannot afford a scenario where our league is not running as it should be," he said.Namwamba said Kenya should match the level of focus being shown by its co-hosts and warned that internal disputes could undermine the country's preparations.“I am in Kampala now. I interact with my friend Obuwa and his team at FUFA. And you can see a solid team. When you go to Tanzania, you see a solid team that is focusing on delivering AFCON. Please let us see the same thing in Nairobi,” Namwamba said.End in sight as Kariobangi Sharks, Mombasa United reach playoff breakthrough“Because these distractions are going to sap our energy. They are going to undermine our performance as a country. And we cannot afford to have our neighbours have one over us. Because we really want to deliver this. We don't want it to be said that Uganda and Tanzania did better than Kenya. We can't afford that."Namwamba also recalled Kenya’s leading role in the Pamoja Bid formation, which brought Uganda and Tanzania into the joint bid to host AFCON 2027.AFCON 2027: Sifuna questions rising Talanta Stadium construction cost“And the whole idea of the Pamoja Bid was born here. Actually, initially, I had prepared a bid just for Kenya. Before we decided, okay, in the spirit of East African integration, let us pull in our neighbours. The whole Pamoja thing has worked very well. I used to chair the committee of ministers of the three countries to prepare when we went to Cairo to push for the award of the hosting rights. We went together as the three ministers under my leadership. So Kenya must continue to provide this leadership, but wrangling will rob us of that leadership role."McCarthy defends inclusion of suspended Gor Mahia duo in Harambee Stars