FKF Special meeting: Gor and AFC abstain from board vote, polls Code approved
Football
By
Rodgers Eshitemi
| Jan 29, 2020
Top clubs, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards abstained from approving the Electoral Board as delegates endorsed the Board and Electoral Code during yesterday’s controversial Special General Meeting (SGM), at Safari Park, Nairobi.
Kakamega Homeboyz were also not represented in a meeting that saw 68 and 72 delegates vote for the Board and Code respectively, thus paving way for a repeat national and branch elections set for March.
FKF were forced to go back to the polls after the Sports Disputes Tribunal nullified the branch elections and cancelled the planned presidential elections last year following a petition filed by Nyamira FKF sub-branch chairman Jared Nyauma challenging the composition of the Board and the Code.
Addressing the press after the meeting, the federation boss Nick Mwendwa, who together with the Sports Cabinet Secretary Ambassador Amina Mohamed and other government officials, are set to leave for Fifa’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland tonight, said he is ready to face his rivals at the ballot box.
“Our two members, AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia abstained from voting for the Board but that doesn’t mean they opposed it. We are happy with that. The business is done. We now have a Board and a Code in place,” said Mwendwa.
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“We are heading to Fifa for a meeting with the CS and her team including the Sports Registrar and SDT chairman Ohaga tomorrow (today) so that we can be on the same page. We want Fifa to understand our national issues and then explain to the government what their position is. I believe coming back on Saturday, this elections matter will be finished.”
Fifa Standard Election code, however, requires that the Electoral Board be in place at least six months before a poll.
Mwendwa, however, maintained: “I’m sorry to say that the process that we have done now cannot be challenged.
“I have come to the floor of the SGM and I have got unanimous support. Some people have been creating illusion that we don’t have support. Support comes in terms of numbers in voting and not in terms of blogs and newspaper cuttings.”
But asked why he didn’t vote for the Board, AFC Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda said: “Unfortunately, I arrived here late and I found the voting exercise already on. I requested for five minutes to understand what was happening, but my request was rejected. I can’t just vote blindly.”