The clear and undisputed winner for the qualifiers of the Kenya eligue 1 EAFC 26 tournament is Mulinge Jeremiah Gerald aka ‘Shaq’. A talented 17-year-old who has dominated in Kenya’s EAFC tournament scene.
Per competition requirements, the winner is awarded a fully sponsored trip to Paris, to represent Kenya at the eligue 1 championship.
Something that may seem simple and straight forward has turned into a debacle and the EAFC community in Kenya is unhappy with the decisions made by the Electronic Sports Kenya Federation “ESKF” without consulting the winner and his management and no clear communication within the community.
The issue raised by the community is that Shaq’s position has been substituted for another athlete. According to information reaching Esports Africa News, the reason given is in connection with Shaq’s inability to provide his passport. Esports Africa News spoke to Shaq’s management on the subject and was informed that up until recently the President of ESKF, Mr Ronny Lusigi was in constant communication with the team. The management team however highlighted that they were not informed about any changes and specifically the substitution of Shaq for another athlete.
Shaq’s management team believes, the move was devised by the ESKF to favour their own preferred candidate. The management team and the EAFC raised several complaints in general about how ESKF handles esports in the country.
Esports Africa News contacted ESKF for their side of events, the information received suggest the management of Shaq failed to meet communicated deadlines in providing Shaq’s passport. ESKF said, they had set deadlines to meet for registration of winning athletes to travel as the visa and associated processes took time.
The dates of communications, engagements and some evidence provided to Esports Africa News by both partied did not align. Apparently, the deadline for submission of information was 16th March 2026, however Esports Africa News has seen communication from Mr Lusigi, purporting to be supporting the expediting the passport application for Shaq on 18th March 2026. The management of Shaq said they submitted the valid passport of Shaq about the 21st of March 2026. The truth of all the events is not clear and most communications was on WhatApp text not seen by Esports Africa News.
Historically, Kenya esports have had issues which seem to have been swept under the carpet and so this event has caused the community to challenge the actions of Mr Lusigi. The community also started various campaigns in support of Shaq.
Did the federation choose the easiest way out by taking the second person rather than fighting for the Shaq or was this one of the moves by the federation as suggested by the esports community in Kenya?
Did the management of Shaq fail the youngster by not meeting the deadlines as suggested by the ESKF?
