Rifts emerge in Nock as poll date nears: Affiliates point fingers at officials over voter register

Paul Tergat (seated second right) during his official media launch of candidature for the position of National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) President and Unveiling of the team that will spearhead development at NOCK in Nairobi onTuesday, April 4, 2017. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]

Affiliates point fingers at officials over voter register

IOC calls for independence of the electoral board ahead of September 29 polls.

Disagreements have emerged within National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) over the election process.

At the same time, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has called for independence of the electoral board that will preside over the September 29 elections.

Yesterday, a number of Nock affiliates accused Nock officials of plotting to run the elections.

Shadrack Maluki (tug of war) and Andrew Mudibo (table tennis) said it was wrong for Nock to send a list of eligible voters to the electoral board.

“Clearly, Nock wants to incite us to move to court so that elections will be suspended.

“They should let the electoral board run the process without interference,” they said in a statement.

The affiliates seemed to be taking a cue from Pere Miro, the IOC Deputy Director General who, in a letter, said the Centre for Multiparty Democracy (CMD) should be allowed to handle the process without any interference.

Miro also said any disputes that cannot be resolved by CMD should be presented to the elective general assembly before the process is finished.

“The CMD is now fully responsible for the process and allowed to work independently. Any pending disputes in relation to the elections that cannot be resolved by the board be referred to the general assembly for resolution,” he said.

The statement came even as Nock Secretary General FK Paul sent out a notice for the general assembly.

Meanwhile, 17 national anti-doping agencies have called for Russia to be banned from the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics over “one of the biggest doping scandals in sports history.” In a statement issued at the end of a two-day meeting in Denver, Colorado, officials said the International Olympic Committee had failed to hold Russia accountable despite evidence of widespread state-sponsored doping over an array of sports.

Russian track and field athletes were barred from the Rio Olympics last year and from the athletics World Championships in London last month.

But the IOC declined to issue a blanket ban of Russia from the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Officials at this week’s meeting, including representatives of anti-doping organisations from the United States, France, Germany and Britain, insisted an IOC lack of action on Russia “imperils clean athletes and the future of the Olympic movement”.

“A country’s sports leaders and organisations should not be given credentials to the Olympics when they intentionally violate the rules and rob clean athletes. “This is especially unfair when athletes are punished when they violate the rules,” the statement said.