FKF elections run into headwinds, yet again

FKF Electoral Board chairperson Kentice Tikolo. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

A petition seeking to stop the Football Kenya Federation elections has been certified urgent by the Sports Disputes Tribunal and is set for mention on Tuesday, August 18, the same day the SDT is expected to deliver its verdict on the interim orders sought in the application filed yesterday.

SDT boss John Ohaga yesterday directed the applicants to serve the respondents, who include the FKF Electoral Board, its chairperson Kentice Tikolo and the federation, ahead of Tuesday.

The petition filed by a section of clubs and aspirants, who were parties to SDT 3 and 5 wants the elections process issued by the FKF Electoral Board on Tuesday stopped for being in contempt of the ruling delivered on March 17.

The petitioners contend that the roadmap and regulations announced by board chair Kentice Tikolo have not addressed the issues that led to the nullification of the elections in March, especially the section on the Electoral Code on eligibility criteria for both candidates and voters. Further, they have taken issue with the fact that stakeholders were not involved in coming up with the roadmap, accusing the board of arrogating itself powers it did not have in law.

“That the 1st and 2nd Respondents have no authority or power to issue any regulations or roadmap on FKF elections as their mandate is limited to overseeing National and County Elections,” the petitioners argue while also questioning how Fifa changed tune from their intention to meet stakeholders “for the sake of peace” as proposed in their letter dated March 25 to the now “unilateral decision to proceed with the polls.

“It is not clear how and when Fifa’s position changed.However the Petitioners legitimately expected that before the roadmap and regulations to be used in overseeing the said elections are set or published, there would have been stakeholder engagements on the same.”

The petitioners, who include Bondeni and Cheptiret Football clubs, have dismissed the register published by the board, saying it violates Article 35 of the FKF Constitution 2017, which provides that “each club duly registered by FKF will be eligible to vote” and that “each club shall have one vote”.

“Cutting off Cheptiret and Bondeni Football clubs from FKF elections is upfront to their constitutional right to vote and is contemptuous to the ruling of the Sports Disputes Tribunal in SDT 3 and 5 of 2020,” read the court papers.

“The Sports Disputes Tribunal having declared that 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, the first point of call would have been to handle the issue of eligibility of both candidates and voters to ensure compliance with the Constitution, the Sports Act, the FKF Constitution and the decision of the Sports Disputes Tribunal in SDT 3 and 5 of 2020.”

Tikolo flanked by board members announcing Electoral road map at FKF offices, Goal Project Nairobi, 2020. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Separately, Standard Sports has learnt that journalist Milton Nyakundi has also filed an application seeking to, among other prayers, have Fifa’s Chief Member Associations Officer Veron Mosengo-Omba stopped from interfering with the internal affairs of the FKF.

Nyakundi, who has listed Fifa and Mosengo-Omba as Respondents with the Sports Registrar as an Interested Party in his petition, also wants that Rose Wasike “verifies and confirms that the listed clubs and branches are in compliance with the requirements of Sections 46 and 47 of the Sports Act 2013.”

He is also seeking that entities that have been registered by the Sports Registrar in accordance with the Act will participate in the elections.

Nyakundi sought: “An order prohibiting Mosengo-Omba from signing letters that suggest that the Fifa has the extraordinary powers to set aside the applicability of the Sports Act 2013 and the CoK 2010 on the FKF elections and that any directives, through letters authored on behalf of the Fifa by the Mosengo-Omba, that contravene the Laws of Kenya will be null and void.

“Directives through letters signed by the Mosengo-Omba on how the elections should be conducted amounts to a violation of Article 19 (2) of the Fifa’s Statutes and is tantamount to undermining the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Sports Act 2013 by suggesting that the Kenyan Laws are subservient to the Fifa Statutes.”

FKF president Nick Mwendwa at a past press conference. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]