FKF chairmanship contestants say electoral code ignored

A section of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) members are now demanding that the National Electoral Council (NEC) convene a meeting to deliberate on the electoral code.

The members, who include Doris Petra, FKF executive committee member for Rift Valley, Tom Alila, NEC Nyanza, Michael Ouma, FKF Nairobi branch chairman, his Upper Eastern           counterpart Mureithi Nabea and David Gikaria who chairs the Central Rift branch, said FKF cannot vet the forthcoming presidential contestants while it has an incumbent who is also vying for the same position.

“We demand that the electoral board as advised by FIFA be in charge of vetting the delegates’ list. Already, we have witnessed irregularities from Lower Eastern and in North Nyanza where clubs have been omitted,” they said

They claimed that it was the responsibility of NEC to organize the elections based on the AGM that was held in the month of August, where an ad hoc committee was formed to formulate an electoral code.

“The published electoral code deviates from the fundamental decisions reached,” they added.

They claim that NEC was not involved in the formulation of the electoral code and therefore revoked the published draft saying that it was favouring a few individuals.

The group also argued that the standard electoral code provided by FIFA does not allow members of the executive committee to organize and supervise the elections.

They further demanded that all materials relating to the elections be handed over to the electoral board that has the mandate to oversee the election.

In a statement to newsrooms and signed by its chief executive Michel Esakwa, the federation said:  “Pursuant to the provisions of Article 25 (4) of the Football Kenya Federation Statutes, the National Executive Committee shall draw up an electoral code governing the procedure, conduct of elections and eligibility.”

The statement further stated that candidates wishing to contest for the chairman or vice chairman’s position “must have been a member of the National Executive Committee of FKF or a branch official for at least one term or have served as chairman of the premier league (FKF PL, KPL and the women’s premier league).”

One must also be endorsed by at least five branches although no branch can “endorse more than one candidate for the same position.” Only clubs that have been participating in the FKF- sanctioned activities for the last four years will participate in the elections.

FIFA had earlier directed the forthcoming Football Kenya Federation elections be compliant with the current statutes and in line with the last exercise held in 2011 to ward off possibility of rigging the outcome.

This direction was contained in a letter addressed to federation boss Sam Nyamweya by the  acting Secretary General Markus Kaittner following proposed changes to the membership of FKF and guidelines of the polls adopted after the August 28th Annual General Meeting.