Ruling on Kenyan Premier League too little, too late
Sports Disputes Tribunal chairman John Ohaga addressing the media in Nairobi in the past.
What you need to know:
- On Tuesday last week, the SDT gave their ruling after taking their sweet time.
- The ruling itself was very tepid.
In a tweet sent sometime in April, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa said that the Kenyan Premier League had been suspended.
He took the decision unilaterally after the first coronavirus case was reported in Kenya and also declared Gor Mahia winners.
Of course, that assumption of power irked the Kenya Premier League which is legally mandated to run the top-tier league, and they sought counsel from the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT).
We had expected that the Tribunal would have ruled on the matter by May, or at least June, when it really mattered. We thought their ruling would set a precedence that will in future be a reference point. Well, it left many of us with qualms.
On Tuesday last week, the SDT gave their ruling after taking their sweet time.
Even though the Tribunal ruled that Mwendwa’s decision to end the league was wrong, the decision was too little too late, because there is no time left to complete the league before the start of the new season.
The ruling itself was very tepid. It apportioned blame on both the defence and the accused in the most lukewarm manner. The Tribunal ruled that the FKF president had no powers to end the league in such manner.
That by the time Mwendwa was making the decision on April 30, his term in office and that of the National Executive Council had already expired.
Kenya Premier League opted to take the case to the Tribunal, stating the federation had overstepped its legal mandate by performing a function reserved for the league administrators.
SDT said while taking the decision to end the league, Mwendwa was doing so as a “king without a crown”.
“We reiterate the ruling on September 1 that the FKF president and FKF are not synonymous," said SDT Chairman John Ohaga said on Tuesday.
"The FKF president has no authority to make the decision on behalf of FKF. In essence, the current FKF president is a king without a crown.”
So does that decision by a “crownless king” stand? The league managers were also put to task for not exhausting all the avenues of arbitration before rushing to the SDT.
And that KPL teams were not consulted. We accept the ruling, although it came late.
County FKF polls were held on Saturday, and some candidates have appealed the results at the SDT. Can we get fast rulings? We ask the SDT to step up its work. Time is of essence.
