Why FKF polls will be a formality for the presidential position
Local football enthusiasts and stakeholders are about to witness history in the sport as, for the first time in the history of Kenyan football elections, the head of the country’s soccer governing body will be unopposed.
The only time something akin to that happened, was in 1974 when Kenneth Matiba abandoned Kenya Football Association (KFA) after losing the elections to Williams Ngaah the previous year, before forming a splinter group, the Kenya Football Federation (KFF), moving with 80 clubs to the new outfit where no one opposed him at the federation’s first polls as he went ahead to serve for a single term before stepping down in 1978 to join politics.
Fast-forward to 2019, the forthcoming Football Kenya Federation (FKF) slated for December 7, will be a one-horse race after the fate of any interested candidate for the president’s position was sealed during the seventh Annual General Meeting (AGM) held last weekend at Safari Park after all the 20 federation branches endorsed the incumbent president Nick Mwendwa for a second term.
The move going by the electoral code to guide the December polls, effectively means that no one else can challenge Mwendwa, because one of the rules is for a presidential candidate is to get declarations of support from at least one of the current FKF branches in five of the 20 FKF branches, one club from the Kenyan Premier League (KPL), one club from the National Super League (NSL).
One club from the Women’s Premier League (WPL), one club from the Women’s Division One League and one club from the National Division One League, which translates into nine declarations in total.
The endorsements are only done once and given the fact that Mwendwa has received endorsement from all the 20 branches, on paper the race has already been locked for other candidates seeking the presidential position since it means none of them can get an endorsement from at least five branches as required by the electoral code.
“The presidential election in FKF is done and dusted. Mwendwa is going for his second term because all the branches endorsed him and there is no remaining branch endorsement for any other candidate who may be interested,” Anthony Makau, the chairman of Southern branch.
He added: “We are now just waiting for the elections board to officially declare Mwendwa the president for a second term after the rest fail to get the required endorsements.”
Now this leaves the National Executive Committee (NEC) and branch seats as the only positions to be filled during the polls.
According to the electoral board, headed by professor Edwin Amukowa, Mwenda’s team had by 1 pm on Wednesday, received other endorsements from 11 out of the 18 Kenyan Premier League clubs, two from the 12 women premier league sides and seven endorsements out of the 20 NSL sides.
Mwendwa who already announced Dorris Petra as his running mate for the second time is expected to visit the electoral board secretariat next week to present his papers and pay the Sh 400,000 nomination fee.
Former Vihiga Governor Moses Akaranga and former FKF Nyanza NEC member Tom Alila were the only persons who had showed interest in the presidential position at the football polls.
