Plot thickening: Branches insist SGM must go on, Kiplagat calls for meeting today

Athletics Kenya (AK) branch officials (from left) Paul Mutwii (Southern), Jonathan Koskei (Police), Maurice Ochieng’ (Universities), Barnabas Korir (Nairobi) and Peter Angwenyi (Nyanza South) after meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday. [PHOTO: DENNIS OKEYO]

Athletics Kenya (AK) is staring at a major fall-out in the coming days. While the federation is grappling with the damaging dope scandal involving its top female marathoner Rita Jeptoo, branch officials have reaffirmed that the planned Special General Meeting (SGM), which has been ‘outlawed’ by the head office, will continue as scheduled on November 14.

Paul Mutwii, the spokesperson of the AK branch chairmen, said despite the refusal by AK President Isaiah Kiplagat to call for the SGM, they would go ahead and hold the meeting, which will discuss, among others, Kiplagat’s conduct, at the AK headquarters. They evoked Article 10/2D, which empowers AK members to call for an SGM. The agenda of the SGM is to discuss the conduct of the AK President.

“We are in receipt of a letter from Kiplagat’s lawyers declining to call for an SGM as per Article 10/2C of the AK constitution. However, we can still use the clause where members are allowed to call for an SGM and we will use it during our meeting on November 14,” said Mutwii.
Mutwii has urged AK to provide security for the delegates who will be attending the meeting.

“Other facilitation issues regarding transport allowances and a meeting place must be provided for by AK as is done in other AGMs because we have followed the constitution to the letter in calling for the SGM,” he said.

Mutwii said Kiplagat will be free to chair the SGM, but in the event he is not able to do so, any of the four vice chairmen will assume his role. Other vice chairmen David Okeyo, Jack Tuwei and Fatuma Awale are on Kiplagat’s side, leaving Mutwii to lead the renegades.

At the same time, Kiplagat has summoned the national executive committee for a meeting on today to deliberate the planned SGM. Mutwii confirmed that the agenda of the executive meeting, among other things, will be to discuss the facilitation of the SGM.

“The constitution does not allow us to discuss if or not the SGM would go on. What I know is that, when this group of AK branches wrote to the President of AK, he had a chance to call a meeting to discuss the need of the SGM.

“But he did not utilise that clause and has since written to us declining to call for the SGM. But we are using Article 10/2/d to call for the SGM and the executive committee can’t do anything about it, other than facilitating the same,” said Mutwii.

Mutwii was speaking at the Motor Sports Club in Nairobi’s South C on Tuesday, accompanied by other branch chairmen -- Eastern’s Joseph Kinyua, Kenya Police Service’s Jonathan Koskei, Peter Angwenyi (Nyanza South), Nicholas Maswai of Prisons and Barnaba Korir (Nairobi).

A total of 14 out of the 16 AK branches have rebelled against Kiplagat. Koskei said Kiplagat’s plans to block the SGM will not succeed but also said that they would be peaceful during the meeting.