77 delegates cleared to elect FKF top officials on Wednesday
Delegates queue to vote during Football Kenya Federation, North Rift branch polls at the Teachers Advisory Centre, Polling Station, Eldoret town, on January 26, 2016. 77 delegates have been cleared to vote during national elections on February 10, 2016. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA
What you need to know:
- The elections will be held at the Moi International Sports Centre Gymnasium at Kasarani starting at 10am. The new office bearers shall be named at 5pm.
- The board scrapped the post of Women’s Representative after consulting the federation. Consequently, 77 delegates will vote to determine the new office bearers instead of 78 as previously stated.
- During the verification exercise, there was a dispute within Kenya Football Referees Association. Veteran referees Wycliffe Ogutu and GMT Ottieno both appeared at the venue of verification process and each claimed to be the rightful representative of the country’s match officials.
Football Kenya Federation Electoral Board has cleared 77 delegates to vote in Wednesday's national polls where top officials of the federation will be elected.
The elections will be held at the Moi International Sports Centre Gymnasium at Kasarani starting at 10am. The new office bearers shall be named at 5pm.
The next order of business after the day-long elections will be to make the federation compliant with the Sports Act.
The board scrapped the post of Women’s Representative after consulting the federation. Consequently, 77 delegates will vote to determine the new office bearers instead of 78 as previously stated.
On Monday, the board’s spokesman Steve Mburu admitted that they had faced numerous challenges in the verification process.
“We have had a number of difficulties. Some clubs had given out names of two delegates, while some people showed up from nowhere claiming to be delegates. Some even brought fake letters. We have however dealt with all of these issues and we are set for the elections,” Mburu said.
BRIBING VOTERS
“We have also had a number of repots indicating some candidates were bribing voters, but we cannot act on them until we get evidence. If we find sufficient evidence in good time, we shall stop the responsible individuals from contesting in,” he said.
During the verification exercise, there was a dispute within Kenya Football Referees Association (Kefora). Veteran referees Wycliffe Ogutu and GMT Ottieno both appeared at the venue of verification process and each claimed to be the rightful representative of the country’s match officials.
The board however ruled that Ogutu would cast the vote on behalf of the referees as he is the last person to have conducted official business at the Sports Registrar on behalf of the referees.
At the same time, two petitions that had been tabled before the FKF Appeals Board were thrown out after the Appeals Committee found out that the complaints did not warrant a re-run in the affected areas.
In Wednesday's polls, delegates will cast their votes for ten elective positions. They will vote for the president, deputy president as well as for National Executive Committee members for the federation’s eight regions.
Candidates seeking FKF presidency and deputy president’s position should garner more than half of the total votes cast in the first stage.
If none of the candidates obtains a simple majority vote after the first stage, the three candidates, who obtain the highest number of votes will proceed to a run off.
Winners of all the other elective positions will be determined by a simple majority.
