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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

SUSPENDED! Shock as CAF axes one of Kenya’s brilliant referees

Football

By Gilbert Wandera | Nov 23, 2016

**Centre referee Davies Omweno when he officiated the Kenyan Premier League U20 championship between Mathare United FC and Gor Mahia Youth at Nyayo Stadium August 26. [PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO/STANDARD]**

Shock has greeted the local football fraternity following news that Confederation of African Football (CAF) has suspended top referee Davies Omweno for three months.

Omweno is among three match officials who have been suspended for poor performance during the 2018 World Cup qualifier matches.

He was in-charge of the match between Libya and Tunisia and according to CAF, the Kenyan had wrong positioning and movement among other ills during the stated match.

“He was also guilty of wrong identification of fouls and failed to administer some disciplinary sanctions,” CAF said in a statement.

Eritrean assistant referee Berhe Omichael, who also officiated the match has been suspended for three months for denying Libya a valid goal.

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Theogene Ndagujimana from Rwanda got off with a warning for missing multiple basic off-side decisions during the fixture.

A third center referee, who has been suspended by CAF is Ghanaian Joseph Lamptey who handled the South Africa and Senegal match. He is accused of awarding South Africa a wrong penalty.

According to retired Fifa referee Alfred Ndinya, the suspension of Omweno is a big blow not just for the whistler blower but for the country as a whole and he has urged Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to appeal for the sentence to be reduced.

“He will miss out on next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals in Gabon and that in itself is a big blow to his career. It is always prestigious for any country to have a centre referee in the tournament. Omweno had been identified for the 2017 edition and it is unfortunate he will miss out,” said Ndinya.

Ndinya further added that the referee is likely to lose his elite status by the time he comes back and it is on this basis he wants FKF to appeal for the suspension to be reduced.

“The reasons for his suspension are not that serious and I believe CAF will be willing to look into an appeal,” added Ndinya.

FKF chairman Nick Mwendwa, however, ruled out an appeal against the decision insisting that chances of its success are almost nil.

“To appeal such a suspension you need to have solid grounds which we do not have. It is unfortunate this happened to our top referee. We will wait for the suspension to run out and then work with him again,” he said.

He added: “It is difficult to develop a referee to such a level and then they get suspended. Our biggest task now is to identify his mistake and help him correct the same.”

Omweno will, however, be eligible to officiate in the KPL next February as his three month ban will have lapsed.