Conundrum as Sports Registrar orders Gor Mahia's Rachier out of office

FKF Premier League champions Gor Mahia FC have been plunged into a leadership crisis after the Sports Registrar, Rose Wasike, issued a directive ordering the club to immediately announce fresh elections.

This comes after she pronounced the expiry of long-serving Chairman Ambrose Rachier’s maximum legal tenure.

In a stern reminder dated June 10, 2026, the Sports Registrar declared that Rachier’s eight-year term under the Sports Act officially lapsed at midnight on June 8, 2026.

The club has been given a maximum of two weeks to submit an election notice to avoid potential legal consequences for the continued contravention of sports governance laws.

According to official records, K'Ogalo was issued its Certificate of registration under the Sports Act on June 8, 2018. Under Regulation 6 of the Sports Registrar Regulations, the club was legally mandated to hold elections within 90 days, by September 8, 2018.

However, the Registrar accused the outgoing office bearers of using "delaying tactics" by stalling the first elections until August 8, 2020, in an attempt to evade the legal eight-year term limit on elected officials.

The Registrar noted that this was "a sign of negligence, poor leadership and bad governance by officials that should not be condoned in any sports organization's leadership".

While the Sports Disputes Tribunal previously allowed Rachier to contest the April 13, 2025 elections due to non-completion of the term, the Registrar maintains that because the executive continued to run club affairs during the delays, the absolute 8-year countdown has officially hit zero.

The directive follows a formal legal complaint filed by GOWAN advocates on behalf of Mr. Samuel Ochola, a club member and former Secretary General.

The legal challenge blew the whistle on several structural anomalies within the club, including the "failure to amend the Club's Constitution in line with the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the Sports Act No. 25 of 2013 and the Club's International guidelines."

The club also reportedly bypassed its own Article 5.4 by appointing Hon. Eliud Owalo as substantive Patron without a legally existing Board of Trustees to approve the decision.

In addition, complaints say that the April 2025 Annual General Meeting reportedly ignored notified agenda items, "limiting the AGM to proceedings exclusively to elections while omitting other duly notified agenda items".

Also, persistently the club has failed to submit audited financial statements, annual reports and proof of valid Accident and Health Insurance Cover for the players and staff.

To move forward, the Secretary of Gor Mahia Football Club must issue a four-week election notice to the Sports Registrar and the club's members within two weeks from the date of the letter for the position of Chairperson and any other official whose term has expired.

As the club urgently organizes these proceedings, the Registrar has issued strict advice to "ensure that officials who have served in one position for eight years do not vie again."