Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

A section of football leaders has faulted the electoral code released by Football Kenya Federation (FKF) on Friday, ahead of the national polls.

Immediate former president Sam Nyamweya said the federation positions were non-profitable and should be voluntary and that people should be given a chance to view and not be restricted by stringent requirements.

“The document is massive, I’m still studying it before I give a comprehensive statement. But from the highlights, I think it’s very wrong for the office bearers to introduce tough conditions with the intention of locking other people out,” Nyamweya said, even though he did not confirm nor deny if he will be contesting the top seat again.

Former federation National Executive Committee (NEC) member Tom Alila, who will be vying for the president’s position, said if the current office fails to amend the rules, he will go to court to stop the process.

“They must not restrict anyone from vying. This should be made easy for anyone with proper ideas and good leadership and managerial skills to offer himself for election for the sake of taking the country’s football to the next level,” he said.

He added: “The current president Nick Mwendwa can be credited for improving the management of the sport, but it is now time to take football to another level. Let them stick to Fifa rules regarding federations elections or we will stop the exercise in court.”

The federation issued tough rules for anyone seeking to vie for the presidential and vice president post during their elections most likely to be held in December.

According to the guidelines released by the federation’s Electoral Board on Friday, any member seeking to unseat incumbent president Mwendwa must have been active in football for three of the last four years before being proposed as a candidate. 

The person must also pay a non-refundable nomination fee of Sh400, 000.

Nick Mwendwa said he would stick to the rules, saying anyone serious for the top seat would never raise an issue with the set nomination fee since it was a drop in the ocean if compared with the cost of conducting national campaigns.

“This is a serious job with a lot of responsibilities including handling of monies from Fifa, sponsors, government and gate collections, among others. So a candidate who cannot afford a nomination fee of Sh400, 000 cannot be trusted with such kind of responsibility, he may be tempted to fleece the federation if elected,” said Mwendwa.

“Each candidate shall have been registered as a National executive member, Committee member, referee, assistant referee, coach, trainer, or as any other person responsible for technical, medical or administrative matters in FKF, league or club or as a player for three of the last four years,” the electoral code  states.

Interested candidates will also be required to obtain support from a club in the national leagues for their candidature to be approved by the electoral body and a member is only required to declare support for not more than one candidate. 

“Each candidate shall present declarations of support from at least one of the current FKF branches in five of the 20 branches of FKF [a minimum of five declarations] and from at least one club from the Kenyan Premier League, National Super League, National Division One League, Women’s Premier League, Women’s Division One League [a minimum of four declarations,” says the code.

At the same time, the federation has picked October 5 as the date for their final Annual General Meeting (AGM), where a road map for the polls will be laid down. The meeting will be at Safari Park Hotel.