Kenyan referee suspended by CAF over poor officiating

Kenyan referee Davies Ongeche Omweno has been handed a 3-month suspension by the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF’s) referees committee over questionable officiating during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers between Libya and Tunisia at the Omad Hamadi stadium in Algeria on November 11.

Ongeche was sanctioned for “poor performance, wrong positioning and movement, incorrect identification of fouls and failure to administer some disciplinary sanctions” according to the committee’s recommendations.

He ruled an early first half goal offside much to the chagrin of the Libyans and the stadium’s big screens which suggested otherwise.

He has arbitrated in a wide array of CAF competitions and was the man in the middle during the 2016 CAF Champions league final between South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and Egypt’s Zamalek.

The FIFA accredited referee’s assistants at the Libya-Tunisia qualifier which was played in a neutral ground in Algiers due to violence in Tripoli, were also sanctioned with Eritrea’s Berhe O’Michael receiving a 3 months suspension for “poor performance, offside decisions that denied a valid goal by Libya.”

Rwanda’s Theogene Ndagijimana was given a warning but faulted by the committee for missing offside decisions which “denied team’s promising attacks”.

The CAF Referees committee is charged with implementing and interpreting the laws of the game in the African continent.