A petition seeking to stop the Football Kenya Federation elections has been certified urgent by the Sports Disputes Tribunal and is set for mention on Tuesday, 18 August 2020, the same day the SDT is expected to deliver its verdict on the interim orders sought in the application dated 14 August 2020.
SDT boss John Ohaga directed the applicants to serve the Respondents who include the FKF Electoral Board, its chairperson Kentice Tikolo and the federation ahead of Tuesday.
“Please arrange to effect service of the Petition as well as the application under Certificate of Urgency on the Respondents,” Ohaga directed through email.
“Please ensure that you serve an appropriate Mention Notice and file an affidavit of service.”
The petition filed by a section of clubs and aspirants, who were parties in SDT 3 and 5 wants the elections process issued by the FKF Electoral Board on Tuesday stopped for being in contempt of the ruling delivered on 17 March 2020.
The petitioners contend that the roadmap and regulations announced by board chair Kentice Tikolo have not addressed the issues that led to the nullification of the elections in March, especially section of the Electoral Code on eligibility criteria for both candidates and voters. Further, they have taken issue with the fact that stakeholders were not involved in coming up with the roadmap, accusing the board of arrogating itself powers it did not have in law.
“That the 1st and 2nd Respondents have no authority or power to issue any regulations or roadmap on FKF elections as their mandate is limited to overseeing National and County Elections,” they argue in their petition, going ahead to question how FIFA changed tune from their intention to meet stakeholders “for the sake of peace” as proposed in their letter dated March 25th to the now “unilateral decision to proceed with the polls.
“It is not clear how and when FIFA’s position changed however the Petitioners legitimately expected that before the roadmap and regulations to be used in overseeing the said elections are set or published, there would have been stakeholder engagements on the same.”
The petitioners, who include Bondeni and Cheptiret Football clubs, have dismissed the register published by the board, saying it violates Article 35 of the FKF Constitution 2017, which provides that “each club duly registered by FKF will be eligible to vote” and that “each club shall have one vote”.
“Cutting off Cheptiret and Bondeni Football clubs from FKF elections is an upfront to their constitutional right to vote and is contemptuous to the ruling of the Sports Disputes Tribunal in SDT 3 and 5 of 2020,” read the court papers.
“The Sports Disputes Tribunal having declared that the eligibility criteria set out in the Electoral Code finds no support in either the Constitution of Kenya, the Sports Act or the FKF Constitution 2017 and is accordingly null and void, the first point of call would have been to handle the issue of eligibility of both candidates and voters to ensure compliance with the Constitution, the Sports Act, the FKF Constitution and the decision of the Sports Disputes Tribunal in SDT 3 and 5 of 2020.”
