Football Kenya Federation (FKF) will tomorrow, Monday 23rd September, 2024, officially unveil the FKF Electoral Board in an event set to be held at a Nairobi hotel.
According to official communication from FKF, the federation’s General Secretary/CEO Barry Otieno will represent FKF at the event where the electoral board which was unanimously adopted by the FKF delegates during the FKF Special General Meeting held in Nairobi on August 24th will take over their duties ahead of the FKF elections planned to be held before the end of the year.
The FKF Electoral Board members comprises of Advocate Hesbon Owilla, Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) President James Waindi, Mr. Alfred Ngang’a, former AFC Leopards chairman Dan Mule, and Ms. Marceline Sande with two standby members Ms. Farida Lucia Juma and Mr.Robert Akumu Asembo.
The electoral board will after its unveiling, be tasked with spearheading the FKF electoral process from the grassroots to the national level. The electoral board will come up with the timelines for the various county and branch elections and set a date for the national elections and will be guided by the FKF Electoral Code that was passed, with amendments, unanimously by the delegates during the SGM.
During the FKF SGM, the delegates voted to adopt the amended Electoral Code after Tusker FC Chairman Charles Gacheru proposed that the electoral code be amended. Key in Gacheru’s amendments was the reduction of the period which one is mandated to have been a member of FKF before qualifying to vie for various positions from three to two of the last five years.
All delegates, 89 in attendance, unanimously voted to amend the FKF Electoral code on eligibility in a bid to make the elections inclusive.
Gacheru took to the floor to propose amendments to the code to align with recommendations from the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT) during the last elections which said that the current code was not inclusive and made elections look like a mere coronation of the incumbent.
The Tribunal had raised concerns about the eligibility criteria outlined in the code, deeming it restrictive and contrary to the principles of fair competition.
According to the new amended code, candidates seeking elections are now required to have been actively involved in football— whether as an NEC member, committee member, referee, coach, or in any other technical, medical, or administrative role within FKF, a league, or a club—for two of the last five years preceding their candidacy. Under the 2019-20 FKF Electoral Code, candidates were required to have been actively involved in football for three of the four years preceding their candidacy.
