Any hopes of having a free, fair, and transparent and an all inclusive elections at the Football Kenya Federation election look dim and bleak with Sports cabinet secretary Amina Mohammed and Sports Dispute Tribunal chairman John Ohaga were compromised by embattled federation president Nick Mwendwa.
Amina
It is becoming increasingly clear that Mwendwa and Amina and by extension, Ohaga are hellbent on forcing the federation elections to go on without compliance to the requirements stipulated by the law.
This has left the Registrar of Sports Rose Wasike to wage a solo battle to ensure that the law is followed to the letter.
Also in this scheme to force the elections to go on without respecting the law is the world soccer governing body Fifa, who alongside FKF, have tried to armtwist Wasike into submission to circumvent the law.
It is also emerging that the political supremacy between State House and William Ruto has also come into play with the latter showing open support to Mwendwa.
Mwendwa is a protégé of William Ruto who funded his campaign in 2016 and is pushing Amina to have the elections held to score his card on Mwendwa.
Mwendwa has severally been to the DP’s office pleading for his help in convincing Amina to have the elections held in defiance of the law.
It is against this backdrop that the planned trip by Mwendwa, Amina, Ohaga and Wasike to the FIFA headquarters in Zurich last Wednesday was cancelled at the last minute after the government (read State House) refused to give the CS clearance to travel.
“It is important that we understand the real issues she is going to discuss with FIFA,” a source within the ministry stated.
Fifa stood waiting for the delegation and was shocked to learn the trip had been cancelled.
The Sports ministry is not comfortable with Mwendwa who has previously had run ins with former permanent secretary in the ministry Kirimi Kaberia.
Sources at the ministry indicate that Amina has been pushed to accept to have the elections held without the federation complying with the Sports Act, with is tantamount to breaking the law that may see some aggrieved parties moving to the corridors of justice.
In a letter dated December 13 2019, FKF had requested Amina to proceed with the election and promised to adhere to the rules and regulation. The letter stated that: “FKF wishes to request your good office to allow the federation start the process of complying with the Sports Act fully, immediately after its elections scheduled for March 28 2020.”
Our sources indicated Amina was considering allowing the federation carries on with the planned polls by the end of March.
However, it is emerging the Kenyan delegation was never going to Zurich with one voice as Wasike maintains no elections will be staged without compliance to the law.
Wasike had stopped FKF from conducting its elections. On a letter dated November 15 2019, Wasike cited serious violation of the Sports Act 2013 and the constitution of Kenya.
The rush to push for the Zurich meeting was to have the elections done ahead of compliance as Mwendwa would have wanted but after it failed, time is running on Mwendwa whose term in office is ending on February 10.
On December 12 2019, Fifa’s governance services manager Sarah Solemale visited Nairobi and insisted that elections must be held before the date of exiting office by the current FKF officials is reached.
“Fifa is closely monitoring the situation to ensure the compliance of the SDT decision is done and also within a reasonable amount of time. It is important for FKF to know that at the end of the presidential and the national executive committee term, which is to end on February 10 2020, elections must be held,” Solemale said.
On January 28, the federation held an SGM in which the new elections board was given a go ahead to organise the elections.
But the composition of the SGM also raised eyebrows as the term of office of some of the delegates had already expired.
Ohaga’s hand in the new elections board was visible with the appointment of his close confidant Patrick Onyango.
Ohaga had in December cancelled the elections on grounds that there wasn’t enough public participation done in changing its statute, and that the electoral board was not properly constituted.
He has since, like a turncoat, changed tune to suit his own whims.
Ohaga
Questions are arising why Ohaga who is supposed to be independent in the entire FKF fiasco was ready to board a plane with Mwendwa, what complicity?
“There are other interested parties in this process. Mwendwa is just a candidate, why should Ohaga who is supposed to be an arbitrator board the same plane with one of the candidates?” A soccer stakeholder asked.
This has made Ohaga soften his earlier stance on FKF matters.
In the current scenario, a ban from Fifa is looming unless the federation complies with the law as prescribed in its statutes.
Mwendwa has tried to circumvent the electoral process to ensure that he has a smooth landing back to office but the cataracts before him are enormous whose miscalculations have led to the current impasse that threatens to skin the popular mass movement sport to the pulp.
