Fifa: FKF elections must be held by March

What you need to know:

  • Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, while endorsing this directive, said the polls must be conducted in conformity with both the Fifa Statues and Sports Act
  • Fifa's Head of Governance Sara Solemale stressed the need for the elections to be conducted within the timelines
  • FKF president Nick Mwendwa is seeking a second term

Fifa has issued an ultimatum to the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) to hold county and national elections before the end of March.

But Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, while endorsing this directive, said the polls must be conducted in conformity with both the Fifa Statues and Sports Act.

Amina said on her Twitter handle that she had held talks with Fifa and FKF officials over the cancelled elections and how to conduct them fully complying with Fifa and Kenyan laws.

Speaking in Nairobi on Wednesday following meetings with Mohammed and Sports Registrar Rose Wasike, Fifa's Head of Governance Sara Solemale stressed the need for the elections to be conducted within the timelines.

“It is important for FKF to know that at the end of the presidential and the National Executive Committee term which is on February 10, 2020, elections must be held,” Solemale told FKF media.

She was accompanied by the Confederation of African Football Chief of Staff Abdulla Moustapha.

FKF conducted its county elections on November 27 and was scheduled to hold national polls last Saturday.

But the two elections were cancelled by the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) chair John Ohaga, who ruled that FKF's Electoral Board was not properly constituted and that the electoral code was not subjected to adequate public participation.

Separately, Wasike wrote a letter to FKF president with a request for the polls to be rescheduled after questioning their legality.

“The point of the joint Fifa-Caf mission in Nairobi is to assess the situation with respect to the cancellation of the electoral process by the Sports Disputes Tribunal. Fifa needed to have a broad and full understanding of what is going on and what would be the next step.”

FKF has since released a fresh road map that adheres to public participation that will in turn result in an amended electoral code by January 8.

This will pave way for a Special General Meeting (SGM) where delegates will appoint a new board and set fresh elections dates.

FKF president Nick Mwendwa is seeking a second term.