FKF sanctions on Gor, Leopards have no legal grounds Rachier

Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier has dismissed the sanctions imposed on them after snubbing the league match pitting Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards over unpaid Cup prize money and grants.

The two clubs boycotted the Saturday’s match demanding payments and in response, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) pulled a hard one on them by suspending the club’s chairmen and fined them a Sh10m in total. Both teams were also docked three points.

A statement released by FKF stated: “FKF and League Competitions Committee has imposed sanctions on AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia for failure to honour league match… both have been fined KSh6m and KSh4m respectively and sanctioned in accordance with article 3.1.6 of the rules and regulations governing Kenyan football.”

Rachier now says there is no provision to pull such fines on the two clubs for demanding their pay.

“Where is the provision of those fines and how they arrived at…or people are just trying to conjure up Sh10m? What are the basis of those fines and do you just fine somebody whom you have not tried and found guilty?”

On suspension of the two club’s chairmen, FKF stated that: “The FKF National Executive committee has also provisionally suspended both AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia chairmen Dan Shikanda and Ambrose Rachier respectively for bringing the game of football into disrepute pending the hearing and determination of the matter by the FKF Disciplinary Committee.”

In reaction to the suspension, Rachier says FKF is breaching the Constitution of Kenya that provides for the right to be hear, noting the punishment is coming without following the due process.

“Leaders of the federation need to give us (Chairmen) an opportunity to be heard…. what they have done is completely in flagrant breach of Article 7 of the Constitution of Kenya which accords each and every Kenyan an opportunity to be heard.

“We ought to have been given an opportunity be heard after a charge has been preferred. How do you suspend somebody even without framing a charge? There is a Disciplinary committee that is supposed to be dealing with us and that’s when we will know the claims and the particulars of the claim,” Rachier questioned.

Rachier is also opposed to  docking of already accumulated points for failing to honour a league fixture.

“This (docking of points) is something that was only applied once in the Kenyan football history and that was in 2016 when we (Gor Mahia) were just about to become champions. It was ruled that our fans misbehaved in a past match and three points were docked to hand Tusker FC the title. Before or after that, no team has been docked points – was the rule made for Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards only?”

He continued: “It’s clearly documented in football rules that when a team does not play, you forfeit the points so, where is docking of points coming in? Federation should get to know the difference of docking points and forfeiture of points? We gave it a good thought and said what the worth is when our players and coaches are angry.”

The long-serving Gor chairman of Gor says FKF should address the main issues around Kenyan football instead of engaging in theatrics with clubs and individuals.

“We should try to address the issues around Kenyan football. We expect to hear financial issues around our football. Let the president address the issues like why title sponsors are leaving and tell us who will be the next title sponsor. Let him address issues of sponsorships, fans attendance, stadia because we are using ragged venues and so on,” he concluded.

Citizen Digital understands Gor will play the rest of the season’s remaining matches, having “passed across the message” they intended through the boycotted derby.