Officials differ on Nock polls

Confusion has emerged over resolutions arrived at on Tuesday during National Olympic Committee of Kenya’s (Nock) Extra ordinary General Assembly in Nairobi.

On Wednesday, Nock’s first vice president, Ben Ekumbo, insisted the meeting resolved that there would be fresh nomination of candidates ahead of the September 29 elections, but member federations that attended the meeting have disputed Ekumbo’s statement, saying the meeting resolved that there would be no fresh nominations.

The bone of contention appears to be the return of Nock’s current president Kipchoge Keino who had failed to get a federation to propose him for a new term during the aborted May 5 elections, leaving legendary long distance runner Paul Tergat unopposed for the top seat.   

However, Keino, who has insisted that he will defend his seat, said he will make a statement on Friday regarding his candidature.

“I now have a federation and I should make an official announcement on Friday,” said Keino on Wednesday.

Tergat who attended Tuesday’s meeting said he doesn’t fear being challenged for the presidency in the elections. “What I am happy about is that a date has been set for the election and I am confident of victory,” said Tergat.

Kenya Rugby Union chairman Richard Omwela on Wednesday indicated that the meeting did not agree on fresh nomination of candidates in totality, adding that officials only resolved to allow federations that had been barred from the aborted election a chance to field candidates.

The May 5 elections were stopped following a High Court injunction by Kenya Taekwondo Association, which had been barred from participating in the exercise due to internal wrangles in its ranks.

Others federations barred from the elections owing to wrangles are Kenya Cycling Federation, Kenya Badminton Association and Kenya Canoeing and Rowing Federation.

“We agreed for the status quo to remains as per the previous nominations but we opened a window for federations that had cases in court to forward their nominations,” said Omwela.

“It’s wrong for them to mislead the public and we can’t have federations that had already supported candidates coming up with new ones.”

Omwela said International Olympics Committee was clear that there should be no fresh nominations.

“Whether or not they go against the IOC directive, we shall still defeat them in the elections. We want to clean up Nock,” said Omwela. “Keino can’t be a candidate as he failed to get a proposer. Nothing has changed since then,” said Omwela.

Kenya Table Tennis Association president Andrew Mudibo said that the meeting discussed the matter but the officials did not agree to a new nomination process.