FKF boss Mwendwa loses five out of six seats in Nairobi East
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) boss Nick Mwendwa may be forced to return to the drawing board after his preferred candidates were knocked out in Nairobi East, which is perceived to be his strong hold, during the County polls held on Saturday.
Nairobi lawyer Amos ‘Wakili’ Otieno who was making a first attempt for the position after skipping the first two polls that were nullified by the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) where his opponent had gone unopposed, won against all odds as he trounced George Onyango by six votes to be declared the new chairman.
Out of the 98 delegates who took part in the exercise, Otieno who is a former Kasarani Sub Branch chairman garnered 51 votes as Onyango managed 45 votes. One vote was spoiled.
Otieno’s team went ahead to sweep the vice chairman’s position, treasurer, women representative and youth representative, with Mwendwa’s ‘Team Blue’ only managing to secure the Secretary General position where Dickson Doyo narrowly beat his opponent by three votes to retain the seat and pick a consolation for the dreaded ‘Team Blue’.
“I thank all the delegates for electing me and I’m extending an olive branch to my opponents to come and work with us for the better of the sport in Nairobi.
Work will start immediately and we are going to make Nairobi great again,” Otieno told People Sport.
Team Blue which had initially won most county positions unopposed also suffered shock defeats in Laikipia, Nyeri, Kwale, Kisii, Mombasa and Vihiga, raising question on the group’s self-proclaimed popularity.
In Laikipia, Mwendwa’s team after falling out with their initial choice Abdul Amin Kaka after suspecting that he leaked an audio voice recording by Mwendwa to his inner circle, decided to field a different opponent to teach Kaka a lesson, and top federation officials camped in the County a few days before Saturday’s polls, but Kaka still emerged the winner in the chairman’s race.
In Kisii, businessman Jezreel Mbegera defeated veteran administrator and local chief Yobesh Mose who was the preferred candidate of Mwenda’s team.
Mbegera garnered 10 votes against Mose’s six, to end the tenure of the long serving official.
