Board to set new AFC poll date, IMCs term extended

A new date for AFC Leopards SC club elections will be set by the Electoral Board after a meeting on Friday convened by Sports Disputes Tribunal ruled it was practically impossible to have them on the earlier stated July 3.

The development comes in the heels of pressure by a section of the club supporters who sought to force through the polls on the original date terming the Interim Management Committee (IMC)’s tenure ‘illegal’.

Consequently, IMC’s tenure has been extended until July 30 when it shall stand dissolved whether there are elections or not.

Tribunal chair, John Ohaga hosted the meeting between IMC and the Board where it was resolved to seek a new date for the exercise aimed at quelling the management circus that has choked the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) giants in recent seasons.

“The elections were supposed to be held on July 3 but there was an issue with the registering of voters and we had to push it back a little bit so I urge the fans to be patient and wait for the new date to be set anytime in July,” Leopards Co-Chairman Mathews Opwora told Citizen Digital.

“At the moment, we are in the office legally and I want to categorically state that the officials of the Electoral Board are the ones who approached the Tribunal to change the date of the elections not the IMC,” he explained.

His interim co-leader Dan Mule concurred asking the fans to respect the Tribunal’s decision and to disregard critics’ intent on spreading falsehoods.

“The fans should not believe everything they hear, yesterday (Thursday) a section of the club’s branch members voiced their displeasure on how the club was being run and that was well and good because it was within their rights to do so,” Mule underscored.

At the same meeting, it was also resolved to set June 20 as the new deadline for the IMC to transfer the register to the Board for it to carry out its vetting and verification mandate.

The Board will thereafter communicate relevant details concerning the election programme and notification of the new date.

A section of Ingwe fans held a press conference on Thursday at Nairobi’s Nyayo Stadium claiming that the club’s election would go on as scheduled on 3rd July.

Organised through the team’s branch network, they had threatened to take over running of the team on Friday but it did not materialise.