Clubs and KBF bury hatchet

The Kenya Basketball Federation has finally reached an agreement with Premier League clubs’ team managers to start this year’s competition on Saturday.

KBF chairman Paul Otula told journalists at the Coca-Cola National Stadium on Tuesday that they have conceded to the clubs’ concerns and agreed to give a representation of one vote each to all Premier League and Division One clubs in the KBF executive.

“We had the same feeling with the team managers but only differed on the time frame to make the decision for the good of the game,’’ said Otula.

The KBF boss, who is also the Maseno School principal, said all the team managers will receive their letters today confirming the decision taken by the federation.

He said all the stakeholders should come up with several constitutional drafts to be presented to the governing council during the Madaraka Day national tournament in Kakamega on June 1.

Otula said the final draft should be ready when clubs converge for the Kenyatta Day championship in Kisumu on October 20.

“We intend to hand over the final draft to constitutional experts to put the matter to rest as soon as possible,” said Otula.

The national league clubs had boycotted the new season fixtures on April 4 until they are give a say in the running of basketball.

As the major stakeholders, the clubs felt that they are not adequately represented in the KBF affairs and could not rely on the system of branches which have no teams in the national league.

Currently the KBF executive is represented by three delegates each from the seven branches of which same do not have teams.

Kenya Commercial Bank Lions team manager, George “Nyundo’’ Omondi, said that in a give and take situation, they had agreed on one vote per club and added that the KBF’s decision was commendable “for the good of the game.”