There was a sigh of relief for Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa and his executive committee after Fifa affirmed that they remained legitimately in office pending a meeting between the world football governing body, the Ministry of Sports, FKF, Sports Disputes Tribunal and other relevant stakeholders.
In a letter addressed to FKF CEO Barry Otieno, Fifa Chief Member Associations Officer, Veron-Mosengo Omba, pointed out that pending the meeting, Mwendwa remains in charge.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the current FKF executive committee members including the president shall remain in office.”
Mosengo chided the federation for subjecting themselves to the jurisdiction of the SDT which nullified the polls and disbanded NEC as the federation statutes do not expressly recognise them as the final arbiter.
“First and foremost, we would like to highlight that the FKF statutes do not expressly recognise the jurisdiction of the SDT as being the ultimate arbitration forum at the national level. Moreover, we note that the SDT is not a national arbitration tribunal in the sense of Fifa circular 1010 dated December 20, 2005.” read Veron-Mosengo letter.
The Fifa official added: “Despite the aforementioned, the FKF was surpassingly subjected to the SDT by its own initiative while it was not obliged to do so by its own statutes.
This, however, does not entail that the SDT decisions are binding in Fifa when it comes to its prerogative and remit for which the Court of Arbitration for Sports(CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland has exclusive competence.
Omba’s address to the federation General Secretary reiterated that the SDT, a creation of the Sports Act has no binding authority over Fifa. “Therefore we wish to emphasize that the relevant SDT ruling has no legal effect on Fifa.”
Mosengo said for the sake of peace, Fifa is ready to meet as soon as possible with all relevant stakeholders to find the way forward with respect to the SDT decision.
“Should the world health situation not resolve positively by April 6, we shall contact you to explore other possibilities including a meeting by video conference,” Mosengo-Omba concluded.
This latest twist could not be more timely for Mwendwa and his executives as they remain mandated to run football in the country with the full support of Fifa. It was also a blow to the SDT as their authority over the federation was put into question.
