The Kenyan Premier League awarded their top performers for 2014 on Wednesday night in a glittering gala in Nairobi but the ceremony was marred by claims of corruption and biased selection of the winners.

Anthony Ekaliani Ndolo, who earlier collected the Midfielder of the Year, was bestowed with the top accolade of Footballer of the Year. Ndolo emerged as the star of the show that saw the audience stunned by a number of awardees.

Kenyan media tore into the seventh edition of the annual curtain ender on Thursday with The Standard, a leading daily, publishing an expose on infighting among the panel of 16 constituent club coaches who selected the winners.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) weighed in on the debate on Thursday calling for transparency in picking nominees and eventual winners despite the fact its president, Sam Nyamweya was on hand to present Ndolo with the top prize.

"We are not the only ones doubting if the exercise was free, fair and transparent. There are complaints from other quarters too - stakeholders and observers as well as the media," federation said.

"It appears the exercise was skewed to favour certain teams and individuals, and merit was not the key factor used in picking the winners. The selection panel, comprising only 16 Kenyan Premier League team coaches, must be impartial and must be seen to be fair and transparent in discharging its duties."

According to the expose, intense lobbying and some of the coaches asking nominees to "part with a share of the prize money" almost saw the awards cancelled hours before the start of the ceremony since a final list had not been drawn up.

"The coaches were even given time to go out and cool off before returning to complete the exercise," an informant told the paper.

Some of the contentious outcomes included champions and Kenya' s representative to next season's CAF Champions League Gor Mahia captain, Jerim Onyango, coming second in the Goalkeeper of the Year category despite leading his side to successive league titles and keeping the most clean sheets.

Jairus Adira, who plays for fifth place Chemelil FC, got the gong ahead of the national team Harambee Stars custodian who failed to bag the coveted award for the second successive year.

Ugandan Sofapaka coach Sam Timbe, who led the club to a second finish in the league before they won the domestic cup GOtv Shield to earn Kenya's ticket for next year's CAF Confederations Cup lost the Coach of the Year prize to local Mike Mururi who is Chemelil's boss raising further eyebrows. Endite

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