OFFICIALS’ VOTING POWERS CLIPPED: Nock officials agree to amend clauses on polls, term limit and winning margin

Interim NOCK Committee officials Waithaka Kioni, Andrew Mudibo and Shadrack Maluki during a press conference in Nairobi on Friday, Oct 21,, 2016. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

National Olympic Committee of Kenya and its affiliates have agreed on radical constitutional changes ahead of the March 31 elections.

After a daylong meeting held at the Nock headquarters yesterday, it was agreed that members of the executive will not be allowed to vote in this year’s elections

Briefing the press after the meeting, Nock First Vice-Chairman Ben Ekumbo said the new proposals will be presented to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) today.

“Today we met with members of our 19 affiliates and agreed to amend some contentious clauses, one of which is the one allowing members of the executive to vote.

“This particular clause always gave some people a head-start, but we want to have a new beginning and work together as a family,” he said.

Although the IOC had recommended that the women and athletes representative who are members of the executive be allowed to vote, Ekumbo said this will not be so.

“We respect the IOC and their opinion but we felt that if the executive is to be barred from voting, then everyone should be affected. We cannot make exceptions for anyone,” he explained.

Another proposal that was made to the document was putting a term limit for office bearers.

The new document says that those running for office will go for two terms of four years each.

“This is in line with the Sports Act and we are asking our affiliates to also implement the same,” Ekumbo said.

The Nock official, however, said this will not affect current officials who have held their positions for more than two terms.

The changes further propose that during elections, the winner will be decided by a simple majority vote.

Currently, the Nock chairman had a casting vote to decide the winner of a position where two candidates have tied.

Furthermore, anyone wishing to contest for a position in the executive committee must be nominated by their own federation and seconded by one other affiliate federation.

The changes will be tabled during NOCK’s general meeting to be held next month for adoption.