Football Kenya Federation Electoral Board members from left: Dan Mule, Merceline Sande, Hesbon Owilla, James Waindi and Alfred Ngang’a during their unveiling at the Kempinski Hotel in Nairobi on September 23, 2024.
The unveiling of a five-member Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Electoral Board on September 23 sets the stage for a series of events that will culminate into election of new office holders on December 7. Already, the board has issued a roadmap for FKF elections, and contestants are expected to declare their interest in various positions.
The board chaired by Hesbon Owilla announced that the high-stake national elections will take place on December 7 after conclusion of elections at the county level on November 9.
But which rules will guid the elections, which were initially planned for October before being derailed by court cases? As per the guidelines and regulations released by the board last Thursday, the electoral process will be conducted in accordance with the amended 2019/20 Electoral Code, as well as and FKF and Fifa Statutes.
Due to the seriousness of the responsibility of FKF president and vice president, candidates for these positions are required to meet a higher threshold compared to those vying for the positions of National Executive Committee (NEC) member and county/branch official.
Fundamental requirements for candidates in all the positions are that they must be adult Kenyan citizens by birth, and must have played an active role in football either as a player, member, or an official of FKF in two of the last five years as per the Fifa Statutes. Initially, the electoral code stipulated that only those who have been active in local football in similar capacities for three of the last four years were eligible to vie.
The changes expected to increase the number of candidates in the upcoming elections were adopted by delegates during the FKF Special General Meeting (SGM) at Sports View Hotel in Nairobi on August 24. Tusker FC’s chairman, Charles Gacheru, proposed the changes.
Other qualifications for candidates for president and vice president are; they must have at least five endorsements from any of the FKF members and satisfy the requirements for leadership and integrity set out in Chapter Six of the 2010 Kenyan Constitution.
Clubs or branch officials can only endorse one candidate.
Murang’a Seal Football Club’s vice chairman Hussein Mohammed who is also Chief Executive Officer of Extreme Sports, former Kenya international Sammy ‘Kempes’ Owino, Gor Mahia secretary general Sam Ochola, former FKF president Sam Nyamweya, and former Nyanza FKF boss Tom Alila are some of the football stakeholders, who have declared interest in the federation’s top job.
But Owino has challenged the electoral code before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland on grounds that it will lock out many candidates thus attracting litigations.
“The path initiated by FKF through the just concluded Special General Meeting (SGM) will not result in free, fair, and credible elections. Instead, it will lock out qualified individuals and clubs from participating despite the electoral code changes that were made. It will also result in continued litigation,” said Owino on September 25.
The former Gor Mahia and Luo Union player has also prayed to CAS to compel Fifa to form a Normalization Committee to conduct the elections.
According to the election’s timelines, presidential and NEC aspirants will present their papers to the electoral board on October 14.
The final list of county and national candidates will be published on November 2. Demonstrating integrity is not a requirement for candidates seeking NEC or county/branch positions. But like the president, vice president, and NEC aspirants, they must provide endorsements from FKF members.
NEC aspirants must secure five endorsements from FKF members, with at least two of those endorsements coming from members based in the region the candidate seeks to represent.
For county/branch candidates, they must obtain at least three endorsements from FKF members residing in the county they wish to represent. Those eligible to vote in the national elections are; one representative of the 48 counties of FKF, one representative of the 18 FKF Premier League clubs, and one representative from each of the first 10 National Super League (NSL) that are currently active.
Others also eligible to vote are; one representative from each of the first 10 FKF National Division One League comprising the top five teams in the two zones of the league, one representative from each of the first three Kenya Women Premier League (KWPL) clubs that are currently active, one representative from each of the formally Women Division but now Women National Super League (NWSL) ranked top from each of the two zones and one representative from the players’ welfare association.
For NSL, KWPL, Division One, and NWSL teams to take part in the elections, the electoral board will only use the standings in a season that has run for at least half of the total rounds, and if not then the final league standing from the previous season shall apply.
The board has urged those with disputes regarding the voter register and eligibility of clubs to file complaints within the set timelines.
Complainants must also provide league standings for all the number of years the club participated in the FKF leagues, player cards for all players and for all the number of seasons played, fixtures for the number of seasons played, and affiliation letter from the relevant FKF branch and/or proof affiliation to FKF, including proof of any payment made to FKF as affiliation fees.
But FKF presidential hopefuls Mohammed, Tom Alila and Sammy ‘Kempes’ Owino have also voiced opposition to the Electoral Board’s decision to base its headquarters at Kandanda House in Kasarani, Nairobi.
Even though Owilla has assured contestants that the polls will be free and fair, Alila likened the board’s decision to operate from FKF headquarters at Kandanda House, to having the Independent Electoral and Boundary Commission (IEBC) operating from the State House.
Alila and Owino pointed out that the electoral board is composed of cronies of the current FKF office holders. Mohammed said the board must demonstrate its independence by operating in a neutral location. He also urged the board to work with Independent Electoral and Boundaries Cpommission (IEBC) in conducting the polls to ensure credibility.
While addressing MPs in Parliament on Wednesday last week, Sports Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the government is willing to provide the Electoral Board with a neutral place to operate from.
“I will have a meeting with the Electoral Board to see if we can lend them a neutral government facility to operate their elections from and whether we can find ways of supporting them technically through IEBC so that the elections can be as transparent as possible,” said the CS.
In the revised Electoral Code, the aspirants are also jittery about section 1(c) of the Electoral Board that permits that FKF Secretary General to attend meetings of the electoral board in an advisor capacity but with no vote.
