What way forward for Mwendwa as Fifa is expected to give directions today
By Barry Silah, March 20, 2020
Kenyans will eagerly be waiting for Fifa’s verdict today on the current football impasse in the country after Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa wrote to them on Tuesday night seeking guidance following a ruling by the Sports Disputes Tribunal that nullified the second polls and proposed for the formation of a normalisation committee to oversee fresh polls.
This was the second time the tribunal was returning Mwendwa and his team to the drawing board after they called of the federation’s first polls in their December 3, 2019 ruling citing compliance.
Fifa has two options, to uphold John Ohaga’s ruling which proposes that a nomalisation committee be appointed to oversee fresh elections given that the term of the current office bearers expired, or dismiss the ruling and support the current office bearers, if they feel their public participation, constitution and the electoral code were done in a proper manner.
“We will only follow Fifa’s directive and we expect a response from them probably on Friday,” Mwendwa told People Sport.
Kenya has twice been suspended from all football activities by FIFA over alleged government interference.
There is a possibility that trouble could be looming again, that is if they dismiss the SDT ruling and proposal and support Mwendwa’s team against the perceived wish of the government.
FIFA slapped an indefinite suspension on Kenya in June 2004 after the government’s refusal to comply with an order to reinstate the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) executive committee which was fired early that year.
KFF had been dissolved by the country’s then Sports Minister Najib Balala in March 2004, accusing it of incompetence.
The three- match ban affected the national teams and clubs operations particularly in continental assignments with Government accusing the Federation of financial mismanagement.
In 2006, barely twice later Kenya received its second FIFA ban in two years when they were handed another indefinite ban for failing to comply with FIFA rules.