Adel’s debt, not Nick’s illegal stay to draw ban

Football Kenya Federation President Nick Mwendwa. [File]

 “No amount of fear-mongering by FKF (Football Kenya Federation) of a FIFA ban for upholding the Sports Disputes Tribunal’s ruling that Nick Mwendwa’s time is over will stop stakeholders from demanding he leaves office .”

These were the words of former AFC Leopards chairman Alex Ole Magelo, yesterday when he responded to a whirlpool of claims attributed to former FKF officials that Fifa is likely to ban Kenya on April 6.

“In fact, we are more likely to be banned on April 24 if the same former FKF officials, now scaring Kenyans, shall not have paid former Harambee Stars coach Adel (Amrouche) his dues,” Magelo said.

“It beats logic and a poor strategy by FKF to try and create a siege mentality even after his Fifa crony Veron (Mosengo-Omba) has called for a meeting on April 6 with the Sports CS and the same SDT he trashed. Would a right thinking Fifa or even Veron, who is yet to explain his role in FKF OB van project come to the meeting with such threats?” Magelo posed to Standard Sports.

In his letter, dated March 25, responding to the Sports Disputes Tribunal ruling of March 17, Mosengo-Omba said Fifa was ready to hold a meeting with different players, including the ministry of sports, the SDT, Sports Registrar and other stakeholders “for the sake of peace”.

The SDT, having found FKF to have inserted controversial eligibility criteria into its Electoral Code less than six months into the election exercise, ruled it was designed to lock out potential aspirants.

The SDT ruled: “No justification has been offered by FKF for the limitations introduced in the Code; and even if such limitation was justified, it would have had to be incorporated into the FKF Constitution 2017 and notified to the members and potential candidates within such period as would allow them to bring themselves within the eligibility criteria.”

And therefore, the SDT declared: “Clearly, the eligibility criteria set out in the Electoral Code finds no support in either the Constitution of Kenya, the Sports Act or the FKF Constitution 2017 and is accordingly null and void.”

Speaking from Mombasa, another presidential hopeful, Twaha Mbarak, said they had noted a dangerous trend the former FKF officials were taking to try and legitimise their illegal stay in office.

“They have resorted to bloggers of no repute to try and blackmail Kenyans. As a matter of urgency, we now want Fifa’s Chief Member Associations Officer Veron to make known the rules of engagement. Who will be in the talks and in what capacity?

“According to our laws, Mwendwa can only come in his personal capacity as a stakeholder because his term expired last month. The court which has the mandate to hear sports disputes upheld as such,” said Twaha, who is also a member of the board of trustees of Kenya Premier League side Bandari.

He added: “Let him (Mwendwa) and his accomplices at Fifa be warned that any attempt to wear the incumbent tag will be against the law and he risks being arrested for false pretense.”

“I don’t know what Veron meant by ‘for the sake of peace’ remark, but I take it that he acknowledges there is a problem created by Mwendwa, who is now blackmailing Kenyans that there will be a Fifa ban yet he is the one who has failed to respect the law. If he does the right thing and tells Fifa it is no longer tenable for him to continue past his term in office then we will not have to go through all this shenanigans,” said Twaha.