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This region celebrated South Africa's victory when the vote was cast to select the host of the 2010 World Cup in Zurich a week ago, well aware that, with a little belt-tightening, any soccer lover will have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of watching the world's second biggest sporting event after the Olympic Games.
But this is also a time to reflect on whether any East African nation will travel to South Africa to compete for the World Cup for the first time ever in history.
Before going that far, will Kenya make any impression in the 2006 qualifiers, with the first match against Guinea scheduled for June 5 in Nairobi?
Kenya's participation in the Nations Cup early this year in Tunis revealed a lot of potential and, although they were knocked out of the preliminaries, it was obvious that their performance could have been better with proper preparations.
As of now, nothing short of a miracle will save the sport from demise, thanks to an obstinate Kenya Football Federation executive that continues to occupy office, despite the expiry of its term, under the misconceived protection of Fifa.
In Zurich, other member federations of Fifa were celebrating the growth of football, and especially the African continent, which will host the 2010 World Cup for the first time in history.
The current KFF team, whose term ended on April 30, was disbanded by the government a few days before that date and replaced by a special transitional committee that has been mandated to run football affairs for three months pending elections, which many felt would have been manipulated to favour the outgoing office had they been held as scheduled.
But the KFF immediately wrote to Fifa, which cautioned the government against interfering with the KFF and that stated it only recognised the current office. The federation also sent two observers, who appeared to have no time for the government-appointed committee or the Kenya Premier League Group, which was formed by splinter teams which quit the KFF Premier League in protest against bad governance.
The KFF has continued to represent Kenya in international fora despite their offices being locked up by the government and the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission, which has questioned some of the officers.
Recently, secretary Swaleh Hussein appeared on national television and warned Sports Minister Najib Balala to back down and sit down with him or he would withdraw Harambee Stars from the 2006 World Cup qualifying matches. He later did a quick about-turn and maintained he had been misquoted and had no desire to implement his threats.
Meanwhile, the federation has not bothered to prepare the national team, a responsibility left to the transitional committee headed by renowned Kenyan 800 metres runner Mike Boit, also a former Commissioner of Sports.
It should be recalled that Swaleh was suspended by the continental soccer governing body for his role in entering overage players in the Africa Under 17 Cup last year, while the coach continues to languish in exile.
The same body was last year barred from preparing Harambee Stars for the Nations Cup because of its past record with finances.
Another splinter group, a brainchild of Bob Munro, who formed the Mathare Youth Sports Association in 1989 from a self-help group that combined environmental clean-up exercises and sports in the sprawling Mathare slums in Nairobi, has vowed to make the KFF irrelevant. The Mathare team is currently one of the best youth self-help programmes in the world.
The group has without success demanded the federation's audited accounts and a total overhaul of its top management.
It has written to Fifa to intervene, also without success, ostensibly because the current Fifa president is obliged to reciprocate the goodwill shown after the East and Central Africa Football Confederation vote that helped him to retain his seat.
Despite its slogan of "For the Good of the Game," Fifa has been unfair to the sport in Africa. Tanzania has suffered the wrath of Fifa. So has Guinea, which was banned two years ago and has just been reinstated for its World Cup qualifier against Kenya.
Many Kenyans now say it would be worth it for the country to be banned by Fifa if this helps bring about the needed changes in soccer management.
If the ban were effected, the Kenya Premier League Group and other stakeholders will have the responsibility of organising soccer activities as, indeed, they have been doing since last year.