IOC now push Nock elections to next March

The International Olympic Committee has now given the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (Nock) more time to review its constitution and have it passed at an Extraordinary General Meeting within a month.

IOC Deputy Director General Pere Miro disclosed in a statement that Nock will formally convene an Extraordinary General Assembly at the end of January, 2017, or beginning of February to consider and adopt the revised Nock Constitution.

He said that it’s after the passage of the new constitution that the Elective General Assembly will be held in March, 2017, supervised by the IOC and Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa (Anoca).

CAN'T BE ATTAINED

Miro said that the final draft must be submitted to the IOC before January 9, 2017, for final review and prior approval, and that it should be circulated by the Nock to all the members of the General Assembly at least one week prior to the Extraordinary General Assembly.

However, Andrew Mudibo, who was elected Nock interim secretary after Sports Cabinet Secretary Hassan Wario disbanded Nock in September, said that the January 9 date “can’t be attained” since Nock have closed their offices until January 4.

Miro said that the changes have been necessitated by the aborted November 24 meeting that should have passed the draft constitution paving way for new election by December 31.

UNACCEPTABLE

Miro said that it was regrettable that the meeting, which was supposed to bring together all the member federations and stakeholders, was disrupted by a group of people and had to be interrupted. 

“Such actions go against the values and principles which should prevail within the Olympic Movement and are unacceptable,” said Miro.

Miro directed Nock to proceed with the final consultations with the members and stakeholders, and should consolidate a final draft reflecting the comments and contributions received from the members and stakeholders as well as the IOC comments.

Miro noted that once this step is completed, and the new Nock Constitution is adopted by the Extraordinary General Assembly and formally approved by the IOC.

“Nock will then convene the Elective General Assembly to proceed with the quadrennial elections of the members of the Nock Executive Board, in accordance with the newly adopted Nock Constitution,” said Miro.

Mudibo said in a statement that Nock affiliates were concerned over the slow pace of implementation of reforms at the Olympics organisation.

“It is the position of the Nock affiliates that the delays on implementation of the roadmap that were agreed upon were caused by none other than the Nock executive who have used every opportunity to derail the process despite the affiliates’ numerous pleas and letters to the IOC for direction and assistance,” Mudibo said.

“Further, the intention of the meeting scheduled for November 24 by the Nock executive was a means for Nock affiliates to rubber stamp a constitution that the IOC and Nock executive have been secretly working on, as the IOC comments referred to in the communiqué to this date have never been shared with the affiliates, and such comments came only a day before the meeting that was apparently intended to discuss such issues.

“The affiliates are extremely apprehensive that the constitutional review will yet again be botched given the late communication from the IOC and the closure of Nock offices until the 4th of January 2017,” Mudibo added.