By Feverpitch Team

Recent resignations by officials in Cricket Kenya and issues surrounding its Nairobi affiliate is causing concern among cricketers.

In what is being described in cricket circles as an imminent vacuum, the chairman of Cricket Kenya (CK) Samir Inamdar announced in January that he won’t defend his seat during the May 27 elections and has since not been actively involved in cricket matters.

Shamji Patel, who is the vice chairman, will go for the top seat. Nasoor Virjee, the powerful treasurer, did not secure a slot as a delegate for the elections and, therefore, won’t contest.

Tom Sears, the Cricket Kenya Chief Executive Officer (left) and Mike Hesson, who quit last week as the national coach at a Press Conference called on Friday to address issues affecting cricket. [Photo: Stafford Ondego/Standard]

Nilesh Lakhani, the Development Director, stepped down over a year ago. Tom Sears, the Chief Executive Officer, will leave Kenya next month for Ireland where he has landed a job with the Rugby Board. 

The national coach Mike Hesson has also left due to security concerns.

Cricketers say this vacuum has caused ambivalence by the Board.

“This explains the dwindling standards of the sport. A coach suddenly says his family is facing security threats and nobody from the CK Board comes out to explain the real issues,” said one official who sought anonymity.

“Does this mean our country is under siege and the situation is that bad that warrants somebody of the calibre of a national coach calling a Press Conference to say his family is facing security threats and we don’t hear any word from CK,” posed the official.

Difficult matters

The imminent vacuum in CK is complicated by the issues surrounding elections in Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA).

While NPCA Secretary John Moyi says the elections are due after June, CK elections will be held on May 27. For the coming four years, NPCA, the most influential affiliate of CK, won’t have its representatives in the national Board.

NPCA must hold its elections before the CK does theirs. That is how they elect delegates who will sit on the CK Board.

NPCA nominated eight delegates to participate in the CK elections. The eight are NPCA chairman Bipin Vora, Kurji Ashali (vice), Shamji Patel, Chidam Subramanian, Sandip Shah, Jackie Janmohammed, Kalpesh Solanki and Ritesh Pamnani. 

Of the eight, four are seeking seats in the national office. They are Shamji Patel (Chair), Ashali (Vice Chair), Sandip Shah (Treasurer) and Solanki (Development Officer). Yet NPCA officials cannot sit on the CK Board unless they are duely elected at an NPCA elections, which, Moyi says, will take place after the CK elections.

This is what informed the NPCA clubs’ meeting at the Nairobi Gymkhana on April 28, which demanded that NPCA hold its elections first before selecting delegates to the CK poll.

Eleven, out of 18 affiliated clubs, attended the meeting. Moyi said the meeting took place and that he received resolutions, but not the minutes. He did not give details.