Football Kenya Federation (FKF) yesterday suffered a big blow when the Sports Disputes Tribunal nullified the results of the branch elections and further cancelled the presidential polls slated for this weekend.
Reading the tribunal’s ruling on behalf of fellow panellists Njeri Onyango and Maria Kimanzi, SDT chairman John Ohaga further ordered that the NEC be maintained as another election is organised as per the orders of the tribunal.
In their ruling, the SDT found that the FKF Elections Board was not properly constituted; there was no public participation in the formulation of the FKF Electoral Code as envisaged in the Kenyan Constitution. The Elections Board is chaired by Eliud Wamukoya assisted by Elinah Shiveka.
Jared Nyauma, the Nyamira FKF sub-branch chairman who petitioned on behalf of sub-branches seeking the quashing of the elections board termed the ruling a triumph for football, adding that all stakeholders must play a role in determining how football is managed in the country.
“We have been vindicated in our stance that all stakeholders should be involved in the affairs of the federation—starting from the sub-branches. FKF clubs are the primary members of the federation and omitting them is illegal,” he said.
Nyauma was the first petitioner and was joined by former FKF President Sam Nyamweya, Alex Ole Magelo, Moses Akaranga, Lodwick Aduda, Steve Mburu and Angeline Mwikali who were the second petitioners.
While citing relevant previous rulings particularly the decision by the Supreme Court in the 2017 Presidential Elections pitting Raila Odinga and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Ohaga said elections are a process and therefore if they are marred, the results are null and void.
“Justice David Maraga ruled that elections are a process and not an event. The sanctity of the process determines the validity of the outcome. If the process is marred, results are null and void,” Ohaga ruled. The tribunal ruled that according to the federation’s Electoral Code and Fifa statutes, a member should not serve in the electoral team twice hence nullified Wamukoya’s membership as he had served in a previous board.
Despite finding no room for bias in the membership of Shiveka, the board admitted the applicant could not have known this and they could not ‘inoculate the apprehension of a party’.
The board thus ordered the of the elections board and further ruled that public participation in formulating the Code is adhered to. FKF had earlier disregarded an order by the Sports Registrar Rose Wasike and proceeded to hold branch elections on November 23—an undertaking that is in hindsight an exercise in futility.
