FKF ELECTIONS IN LIMBO: Football stakeholders take battle to courts

FKF elections aborted in Nakuru Stranded Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Nakuru Sub-branch voters stranded at Christ the King in Nakuru Town after they found they found the names of their clubs missing from the list .The delegates had turned up in large numbers ready to conduct their branch elections but elections were called off following the anomalies. PHOTO: KIPSANG JOSEPH

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections appear headed for murky waters, replete with legal intricacies as various stakeholders prepare for court battles.

North Eastern have already obtained a court injunction stopping the elections pending an ex parte hearing on December 16 following the exclusion of all clubs from the region from voting on Friday.

Coast region football administrators led by vice presidential candidate Twaha Mbarak say they will move to court should the FKF Electoral Board fail to reinstate 50 clubs expunged from the voters’ register.

Twaha has put the board and FKF on the spot protesting what he said is a “mutilated voters' register.”

“As far as we are concerned, 56 clubs in Mombasa had been approved to participate in the exercise but we were shocked to learn that only six are in the register,” Twaha said.

“Clearly, there is something wrong here. The board and FKF should not bury their heads in the sand. No elections will be held here unless the original register is reinstated so that elections can be conducted in Kwale, Tana River and Mombasa,” Twaha said.

FKF presidential candidate Sammy Sholei told FeverPitch the whole process has been reduced to a joke, warning they are putting together paper work for a court recourse should the board fail to heed to the calls.

“For instance, the Electoral Board was never sworn in yet this is a matter of life and death,” Sholei said.

“All we are asking for is a clean and credible election. FKF and its Electoral Board must address the issue of the register and follow the guidelines they issued. For instance was a notice issued in the first place? Was the register published as is required? And what constitutes the eligibility of voting clubs? The board has to come clean on this. In general the vetting process of the candidates was a sham,” Sholei said.

In a sworn affidavit at the High Court of Kenya, North Eastern FKF National Executive Committee member Ahmedsiad Mohamed Abdi says: “The first defendant (FKF Electoral Board) has collected Sh600,000 from candidates from North Eastern branches as participation fees.”

Ahmedsiad, popularly known as Mullah said: “The defendants have decided to exclude North Eastern branches from participating in FKF elections for no good reason at all, thereby denying the region a voice in football governance in Kenya.” Following the injunction obtained, FKF elections have been put on hold pending an interpartes hearing on December 16, a move that could further complicate the situation of the process.

On Monday, FKF distanced themselves from the problems that have dogged the process overseen by the Elections Board and the Institute for Education in Democracy.

FKF CEO Michael Esakwa said: “On the same score we express our grave reservations and utmost dismay on the part of the board for deviating from the list and instead originating, creating and circulating a different one on December 3-4 for purposes of FKF sub=branch elections.”