Fifa's Urs Linsi says they are sending an official to look at Kenya's problems

Sanctions that could be imposed include a ban from international football, should there be any further acts by government that compromise the Kenyan Football Federation's independence, which is in contravention of Fifa's statutes.

Joseph Mifsud, chairman of the Malta FA and a Uefa executive committee member, has been appointed as the Fifa envoy that will mediate in the Kenyan dispute and oversee elections due to take place to April.

Mifsud, who also mediated on Fifa's behalf in the crisis that affected Tanzania's FA, is expected to arrive in the Kenyan capital Nairobi next week.

"All the problems and all the accusations can be discussed within the existing structures while respecting the principle of innocent until proven guilty," said Fifa general secretary Urs Linsi.

"What we cannot accept is the creation and/or the legitimisation of un-recognised breakaway groups through government interference."

All the problems and all the accusations can be discussed within the existing [football] structures Fifa general secretary Urs Linsi

The KFF was granted a temporary court order suspending the minister's decision to dissolve their committee and replace it with a transitional committee.

The committee, which was to be led by retired athlete Mike Boit, was meant to administer football in Kenya for the next three months while elections for a new body were organised.

Linsi said the KFF is one of the 20 national associations whose accounts have been chosen for auditing in 2004 and advised that the government should wait for the results of the audit.

The Fifa general secretary rejected accusations that Fifa protects corrupt officials, saying that they have an audit system for all the national associations who receive their grants.

"Fifa does not defend people, but only wishes to uphold structures and functions in compliance with the principles of its own statutes," he said.

"Fifa has its own audit programme, via the international accountancy firm KPMG, for the funds and grants distributed to national associations," he said.

KFF secretary general Hussein Swaleh has insisted that problems within the federation should be resolved internally and not by government fiat.

"There is just a short while to go [before the tenure of the current board expires].

"I believe it would have been possible to sit down with the aggrieved parties without the minister intervening in the way he did," he said.