Court petition seeks to halt FKF crisis after Mariga, NEC members' ouster
Football Kenya Federation President Hussein Mohammed (centre), acting CEO Dennis Gicheru (second right) during the federation's Special General Meeting at Three Steers Hotel, Meru on November 7, 2025.
A sports enthusiast has moved to court seeking to stop the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) from implementing resolutions of its November 7 Special General Meeting (SGM), which resulted in the expulsion of seven National Executive Committee (NEC) members, including vice-president McDonald Mariga.
In a petition filed under a certificate of urgency, Patrick Kinyua wants the High Court to issue conservatory orders reinstating the status quo that existed before the meeting in Meru on Saturday, pending the determination of the case.
He also wants the court to restrain the Kenyan football governing body from taking any further steps, including disciplinary measures, expulsions, suspensions, dismissals and appointments, which could deepen what he describes as an institutional crisis within the federation.
“That pending the inter partes hearing and determination of this Application and the main Petition, the Respondents be restrained, whether by themselves, their agents, servants, employees or otherwise howsoever, from taking any further unilateral steps, issuing any further competing correspondence, press statements or directives, or implementing any measures that would prejudice the fair determination of the constitutional questions raised in the Petition or further damage the institutional integrity of the Football Kenya Federation,” the petition stated.
Kinyua says he moved to court on November 4, seeking to stop the SGM, which was held at a hotel in Meru, in a bid to preserve the status quo and prevent irreversible harm arising from the rival factions within FKF.
He says the application was intended to avert the emergence of a dual power structure, unilateral decisions and public disorder, which have since materialised. However, the case was not heard as expected before the meeting took place.
“I am the Petitioner herein and have a keen interest in matters of sports governance, the rule of law, constitutionalism, good governance, leadership and integrity, and the proper administration of football as a national sport of significant public importance in the Republic of Kenya. I am fully conversant with the facts of this matter and competent to swear this Affidavit,” he said.
He argues that unless the court intervenes and suspends the resolutions, further unilateral actions, competing disciplinary processes, confrontations and violence are almost certain.
Kinyua says the continued crisis threatens the institutional integrity of FKF, its commercial partnerships, preparations by national teams and Kenya's readiness to co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.
Football Kenya Federation President Hussein Mohammed (left) and Vice President McDonald Mariga.
He recounts that Saturday's meeting was held amid chaos, violence and public disorder.
According to him, officers from the Police Rapid Deployment Unit (RDU), who were widely associated in contemporaneous media reports with the faction aligned to Mariga, arrived at the venue in large numbers.
He alleges that the officers fired teargas into the room where delegates were seated awaiting the start of the proceedings, disrupting the meeting.
Hotel guests were also ejected from their rooms, while delegates were dispersed, interfering with the constitutional process in a manner that, he says, confirmed the risk of escalation and irreversible harm that his initial application sought to prevent.
The RDU officers were eventually ordered to leave, allowing local security and administrative officers to partially restore order. The meeting subsequently proceeded, with the FKF General Assembly resolving to expel seven NEC members.
Those expelled alongside Mariga were Robert Kenneth Macharia, Bernard Korir Lagat, Violet Kerubo Momanyi, Collins Opiyo Kalee, Gabriel Mghendi and Dan Shikanda.
The meeting was attended by representatives of world football governing body Fifa, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) and the Acting Sports Registrar.
The expelled officials have since challenged the legitimacy of the meeting, alleging that genuine delegates were locked out, due process was not followed and they were denied the right to be heard.
Kinyua says the rival factions that formed the basis of his original petition have not been resolved. Instead, he argues, the divisions have been entrenched and deepened by the chaotic events surrounding the SGM.
He says competing claims to legitimacy, conflicting public statements, threats of further litigation and the risk of fresh confrontations pose an immediate threat of further violence, institutional paralysis and reputational damage to Kenyan football.
The developments also threaten preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, he adds.
“That unless this Honourable Court urgently intervenes…the public interest in the orderly administration of football will suffer further irreparable and irreversible harm, the subject matter of the Petition will be rendered wholly nugatory, and the very chaos that the Petitioner sought to avert will continue and escalate,” he said.
Kinyua argues that the teargas, heavy police presence, ejection of hotel guests and subsequent contested expulsions constitute precisely the irreversible harm, public disorder and institutional fragmentation that his original application under a certificate of urgency sought to prevent by stopping the SGM.
He says the court's failure to issue directions before November 7, allowed the situation to deteriorate and the feared harm to materialise.
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