ELECTORAL BOARD ASSURES ASPIRANTS: Board member Gharib says FKF polls will be free and fair

FKF President Sam Nyamweya and his challenger Nick Mwendwa during the Annual General Meeting at Sagret Hotel in Nairobi on August 28, 2015.[PHOTO:DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD]

Suleiman Gharib, a member of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) electoral board, has assured contestants of fairness during the elections.

The assurance came amidst complains from several candidates that the federation was manipulating the list of clubs to take part in the process.

Gharib, who is based in Mombasa said they will not allow any sort of manipulation and will carry out their own independent verification of the eligible clubs.

“As a member of the board, I want to commit myself to a free and fair exercise. I have experience on these matters and understand very well how some people might want to manipulate the process,” he said.

He promised that once the board is inaugurated, it will come up with its own time table when the sub-branches and branches will present their list of clubs afresh.

“We know that the problem of electing bad leaders starts at the sub-branch level. If we do not curb it down there then we will end up electing the wrong people at the national level.

“My suggestion to the board would be that all the eligible clubs present their certificates of registration to our returning officers at various venues across the country on dates we will come up with.

“This way since the club officials know each other, they will be able to identify those who are not genuine. For a club to qualify we will demand they present to us evidence of fixtures for the last three years. We will then publish the list of those who will vote in the media,” he said.
Lawyer Donald Kipkorir will chair the board.

At the same time, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Communications Manager Tabitha Mutemi has confirmed being approached to oversee this year’s FKF elections.

Mutemi said: “We got a letter from FKF and have written back inquiring about various aspects of the exercise and are waiting for them to get back to us.

“We have also asked them to come up with a committee to discuss how this will be done and then we give them a budget after which we take over.”

Yesterday, Hussein Terry who is contesting the Vice President’s seat complained that allowing FKF to receive the list of eligible clubs for the exercise is likely to lead to rigging.

The same complaint was raised by FKF Presidential candidate Nick Mwendwa, who demanded that the board must now handle all matters related to the elections.

But in its defence, FKF has assured a free and fair process and announced that the vetting process has already commenced and they have received the list of clubs.