There is nothing like Fifa ban, carry your own cross: Twaha to Mwendwa
The game of musical chairs ahead of the forthcoming Football Kenya Federation (FKF) repeat elections continued after former senior vice chairman of the governing body Twaha Mbarak told off current president Nick Mwendwa against threatening Kenyans with Fifa ban.
Speaking to People Sport, Mbarak told Mwendwa to carry his own cross for going against the law by initially appointing a fake Electoral Board, instead of invoking ban threats that do not hold water.
Mwendwa on Tuesday talked of a possible Fifa ban in case of government interference and numerous court cases, but Twaha thinks otherwise. He rubbished the proclamation by Mwendwa that litigation towards the polls will result into the country being banned by world governing body Fifa and clarified that the Special Disputes Tribunal (SDT) is merely an organ instituted by the government to arbitrate sports disputes and not an ordinary court of law to invite such sanctions.
He poured vitriol on Mwendwa over what he described as presiding over certain anomalies ahead of the exercise even as the antagonists prepare themselves to file a petition to the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) to oppose it.
In a nutshell, Mbarak said no Fifa statues will have been violated and that in any case, Fifa has embraced the SDT ruling to conduct fresh elections oblivious of the fact that the federation has not yet complied with the 2013 Sports Act which is a prerequisite to conduct the exercise.
“What is stated clearly is that Fifa ban can only be imposed to clubs, individuals, countries, referees and officials among others when it statues are violated which has not happened. There has been no unsporting behavior and further, the government has also not interfered in the elections whatsoever,’’ said Mbarak.
He further expressed concern that the current term of Mwendwa has expired which necessitates the formation of the Normalization Committee to conduct fresh elections.
In a thinly veiled attack on Mwendwa, Mbarak said the federation chief can himself be banned by FIFA for abuse of office including enacting an Electoral Board which was rejected by SDT and which led to the annulment of the original elections on December 7, 2019.
“There is the issue of misappropriation of subsidies from the government, scandal of the Outside Broadcasting (OB) van and Mwendwa’s continued stay in office illegally after his term had expired yet he is purporting to hold the federation elections. The repercussions of such breach of rules are very clear,” said Mbarak while giving a case study of Kenya’s neighbours Tanzania.
‘’Tanzania Football Federation President was arrested and put behind bars by the country’s Head of State Magufuli (John’s) government for misappropriation of Fifa and state funds. Fifa acted by banning him for ten years as an individual and not the country so the issue of the world governing body banning Kenya does not hold water,” said Mbarak.
Mbarak’s statement came two weeks after he had chastised FKF for illegally excluding 100 clubs from Mombasa from the elections voting register,
“We hope to have this case heard and justice done otherwise we cannot take part in a pre-determined exercise,’ Mbarak said then.
