Fifa pushes dialogue between FKF, Amina and SDT to next month
Anxious stakeholders who had hoped for a quick solution regarding Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections impasse will have to wait until next month for a possible way forward.
People Sport has reliably learnt that world governing body Fifa postponed a meeting initially set for yesterday in Nairobi involving FKF, Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed and Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) to May due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A letter addressed to FKF CEO Barry Otieno from Fifa Chief Member Association Officer Veron Mosengo-Omba said a meeting in Nairobi this time is not possible due to the health situation in the country and the travel restrictions.
“We refer to our previous letter dated 25 March 2020 by means of which we alluded to a meeting to be held as soon as possible with the FKF, the SDT representative(s), the Minister of Sport and other relevant stakeholders, in order to find a way forward following the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT) decision rendered on 17 March 2020,” the letter read in part.
“Considering the current worldwide sanitary situation and our institutional travel restrictions, we kindly inform you that the holding of such a meeting in Nairobi shall be postponed to May 2020, once we can resume travelling and upon receipt of further information from your side on the health situation in Kenya,” the letter further read.
Fifa had set a meeting involving the three parties on April 6 (yesterday) to try and a find a solution to the elections impasse after dismissing SDT’s ruling on March 17 that sent the FKF Executive packing and proposed that the world governing body forms a Normalisation Committee to oversee football matters in Kenya until a new office is in place.
“In this context and for the sake of peace, Fifa is ready to meet as soon as possible with the FKF, the SDT representative(s), the Minister of Sport and any other relevant stakeholders in order to find a way forward
. In this respect, should the world health situation not evolve positively by April 6, 2020, we shall contact you to explore other possibilities including a meeting by video conference,” Fifa said in its response on March 25.
The SDT had cited the eligibility criteria at Section 4 of the FKF 2020 Electoral Code which it termed “unreasonable and designed to lock out potential aspirants and therefore, a gross violation of the principle of free and fair elections” as the reason to nullify the polls which had been planned for the end of March.
It was the second time the tribunal was stopping the exercise after doing so in December 2019, citing lack of public participation and that the Elections Board was not properly constituted.
The postponement now means Nick Mwendwa and his executive will stay in office for much longer, something that is unlikely to go down well with his detractors who insist his term ended in February.
