NOCK elections fail to take place: Olympic body was expected to confirm Tergat as president and also elect his team

NOCK MEETING From Left-Founder SOYA Awards Paul Tergat, suspended Chairman NOCK Kipchoge Keino, NOCK Legal officer Sharad Rao and David Mereka of Mereka advocates during NOCK meeting at Hotel Panari on Tuesday, Feb 28, 2017. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Polls Tae Kwondo official obtains court order to stop exercise after association barred from taking part

National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) elections failed to go on as expected yesterday after one of the federations obtained a court order stopping the exercise.

Kenya Tae Kwondo Association (KTA) official George Wesonga obtained a court order on Thursday hours after the association had been barred from taking part in the elections.

The order was served on Nock and Centre for Multiparty Democracy both of whom have been asked to appear in court on Monday for an inter-parties hearing.

Speaking after receiving the order, Nock president Kipchoge Keino insisted it must be obeyed and ordered yesterday’s elective assembly postponed.

“We must obey the law of the land and for this reason, I call off this elective assembly until further notice,” he said minutes after the meeting had been called to order.

Paul Tergat, who is un-opposed for the top post supported the sentiments, but expressed fears that many of their programmes will be delayed.

“This was the court’s decision and we have to respect it. However, my biggest concern is that we had a lot of plans which we now cannot implement due to the delay. This elections were supposed to have even been held earlier,”he said.

Wesonga defended his decision to stop the elections insisting that a ploy had been hatched to lock out his federation from the process.

“We presented our registration details to the Sports Registrar more than two years ago only for her to say that we are not eligible for registration. We cannot accept that. Furthermore, we took part in the constitution-making process and cannot be barred from the polls on flimsy grounds,” he said.

Shadrack Maluki who was contesting for the position of First Deputy President said he was disappointed that the process could not go one as scheduled. “This delay is likely to put us in trouble with the International Olympic Committee who were waiting for us to conclude the elections today. As contestants, we have spent a lot of money campaigning and the postponement is likely to affect us,” he said.