Jackie Janmohammed, who resigned as Cricket Kenya (CK) chairperson in February last year was re-elected in the same position in during controversial Special General Meeting held at CK offices in Ruaraka on Saturday.
The meeting, which re-elected her for a third term running, was given a wide berth by a number of delegates from CK affiliates Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association (NPCA) and Coast Cricket Association (CCA) with Rift Valley Cricket Association opting to stay away completely.
Janmohammed, who first took charge over cricket in 2012, was re-elected alongside her former vice chairperson Palli Sehmi. Other new members are former international cricketers Tom Tikolo (development director) and Kenney Obuya (treasurer).
Janmohammed re-election was contrary to CK constitution which allows for the chairperson to strictly run for only two terms. Sources in the meeting that lasted less than 45 minutes, said Janmohammed had explained that she opted to seek her third term due to pressure from various forces.
“She told the meeting that she was forced to come back despite her refusal to do so. She also promised to serve for only one year,” the source said.
NPCA member clubs gave the meeting a wide berth accusing some of their top officials of supporting the plans to have Janmohammed and her group take over CK without their consent.
In an NPCA meeting held on Thursday, the clubs wondered why they were kept in the dark of the arrangements until the last minute with the lineup already set. They accused their chairman and secretary of having taken a decision to bring back Janmohammed without their consent
“We were only asked to rubber stamp on what they had already agreed on. With this, the clubs were not happy and we had to object the plans,” a source, who attended the NPCA meeting, said.
In the meeting, the club members asked the two officials to rescind their decision to back Janmohammed’s return or face their backlash. Since her resignation after Kenya was relegated to the ICC Division Two, Kenya cricket has been engulfed in a number of chaos between current local cricket officials and former players.
