Federation passes controversial three-term limit

Football Kenya Federation (Fkf) on Saturday adopted a new constitution that allows for three terms in office for its president.

The controversial provision was passed during the federation's Annual General Meeting in Mombasa.

The new constitution was adopted unanimously by 70 of the 74 delegates at the meeting. Voting was done by a show of hands.

Delegates resolved that the constitution will take effect in 2020 when new elections are held.

The three-term limit is however in contradiction with the Kenyan law that provides for two terms of four years each for sports bodies.

Fkf president Nick Mwendwa thus remains legible to occupy office for a further two terms going by the new document

“I would like to thank our members for supporting us in this journey. We have passed the new constitution, which is a good document and which will provide better guidance for football governance in this country,” said Mwendwa. He hit out at the media for dwelling only on the term limit.

“There are 88 clauses in the document, but you (media) have only picked on one, which is the term limits. It is important to note that there was no term limit in the previous constitution. So by introducing the term limit, I am not just doing it for myself, but for the future of football management in this country.

“It is true that I can run for three terms, but that is only because you cannot apply a new constitution backwards. It has to take effect at a specific time, and in our case that will be in 2020,” he said.

Mwendwa was however at pains to explain what will happen if the Sports Act considers this his first term in office, and subsequently allows him only one more term after 2020.