By Mark Baber
October 28 – Ahead of Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections, Kenyan football has descended further into chaos as FKF President Sam Nyamweya (pictured) and the current FKF leadership try to push through their plan to expand the Kenya Premier League (KPL), whilst the South Coast of the FKF has vowed to hold the elections on Thursday, saying the mandate of existing office-holders runs out on that day.
The FKF on Tuesday declared that four teams will be relegated whilst six will join the KPL next season in a move which will likely reignite the conflict with the KPL clubs as it goes against the MoU agreed between the KPL and FKF in October.
The move was met with surprise by the KPL chief Jack Oguda who said, “I don’t get what FKF is trying to do because we signed the document together and agreed.”
Nyamweya has been in dispute with the FKF-PL teams who have been boycotting matches over the lack of clarity regarding promotion and relegation, due to non-payment of referees and a new scandal over the award of “boardroom points.” Shabana FC, the club closely associated with Nyamweya (as well as Kakamega Homeboyz) has again been awarded extra points due to opponents allegedly fielding ineligible players.
In a statement of which Orwell would be proud, the FKF accused the protesting clubs of “displaying a lack of understanding of the provisions of Article 9 (2) & 9 (3) of the Sporting Integrity provisions of the FIFA Statutes.”
The current chaos has been augmented by a decision of the South Coast branch of FKF to ignore the edict of the Electoral Board to delay elections until November 13 and go ahead with their poll on Thursday.
According to South Coast Branch Vice-Chairman Ismail ‘Ogolla’ Mohammed, “As South Coast Branch we shall proceed with the sub branch elections as per the constitution and as per the notice from the national office.
“We are yet to receive any communication from the National Office informing us about the change of elections date and have no option but to go as per the guideline. The Electoral Board does not have the constitutional mandate to change the election date. The constitution is supreme and must be respected and followed to the letter.”
Mohammed added: “The mandate of the current office bearers ends on October 29/10/2015 after which nobody will be in office. We have informed our four sub branches within Mombasa, Kwale, Kaloleni and Taveta Taveta to conduct their elections and appealed to club delegates to turn up in large numbers for the this historic occasion.”
It remains to be seen if out of the current chaos, orderly elections can still be held, a new leadership elected and some form of consensus leadership can emerge.
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