Four FKF aspirants urge government to solve election stalemate
From left to right,: Angeline Mwikali, Andrew Amukoa, Twaha Mbarak, Nicholas Musonye, Sam Nyamweya and Simon Mugo duiring the press briefing at a Nairobi hotel on September 1, 2020.
What you need to know:
- The decision by these three aspirants not to submit their nomination technically locks them out of the polls slated for September 19 and October 17 respectively, even though the polls, have, yet again, been challenged at the SDT.
Four Football Kenya Federation (FKF) presidential aspirants insist the elections have been skewed in favour of current president Nick Mwendwa.
Three of the four, Nicholas Musonye, Twaha Mbarak, and Sam Nyamweya, spoke at a press briefing in Nairobi Tuesday, a day after they all refused to submit their candidature to FKF's Electoral Board before Monday's deadline.
Sam Shollei was absent with apology, but confirmed to Nation Sport on phone that FKF had 'disrespected the law in organising these elections'.
They have also implored on the government and Fifa to step in and moderate this stalemate that has dragged on for a year, further warning they are ready to challenge what they say are 'illegalities' in the polls in all available conflict resolution bodies, including the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.
Five candidates namely Mwendwa, Dan Mule, Herbert Mwachiro, Bonface Osano, and Lordvick Aduda have submitted their nomination papers to the Board.
This is the third time Musonye, Mbarak and Nyamweya have boycotted the elections.
In the past two instances, the polls were nullified by the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT), with its chair John Ohaga citing irregularities.
Also in attendance at Tuesday's press briefing was Andrew Amukoa, Angeline Mwikali, and Simon Mugo, who are eyeing various National Executive Committee (NEC) positions.
"If it (the election) is free and fair and we lose, we will accept. It will not be the end of life. What I will not do is to sanitize a process that is already channeled to favour of someone," explained Musonye.
"Can you imagine even coaches and referees have been barred from voting yet they are among the main stakeholders? The Board is part of FKF staff. This election is a sham."
Nyamweya accused Tikolo of violating both the previous Sports Disputes Tribunal rulings and Sports Act 2013.
"The (Electoral) Board is repeating the same mistake and expecting different results. They have failed the credibility test and should resign. I am urging our (Sports) Cabinet Secretary (Amina Mohamed) to now come out and help offer direction on this matter before it gets out of hand."
Mbarak said that Mwendwa had aided some of the aspirants to contest against him so as to make the election appear to be a credible exercise.
"Some of those (presidential) aspirants cannot even afford to pay their rent, so how are they suddenly able to pay (the Sh300,000) nomination fees? They have locked out several clubs from participating. Fifa has promised to come and streamline this matter, they have not done so, now they have supposedly told FKF to proceed with elections, and due process has not been followed."
The decision by these three aspirants not to submit their nomination technically locks them out of the polls slated for September 19 and October 17 respectively, even though the polls, have, yet again, been challenged at the SDT.
