Five cases, four courts: How Cricket Kenya beat legal storm to stage crucial polls

Cricket Kenya survived a bruising week in court to stage Sunday’s elections at Ruaraka Sports Club, overcoming multiple suits that had threatened to stop the process.

Fresh details show the federation faced at least five separate cases across four courts in a coordinated push to halt the polls—seen as critical to avoiding sanctions from the International Cricket Council (ICC).

The situation escalated on Tuesday, just days to the vote, when the High Court in Nairobi issued ex parte orders suspending the elections.

The ruling jolted stakeholders and raised fears of an international ban. The ICC had already frozen funding after the February elections collapsed.

Another failure would likely have deepened the crisis for a federation battling governance disputes and scrutiny.

The legal fight began with a petition by Julian Kathure and David Obuya.

It quickly expanded, with multiple litigants moving to court to derail or influence the electoral process.

He sought reinstatement as a candidate after being barred following his suspension over alleged financial impropriety.

He argued that if his application failed, the elections should be postponed until the legal battle on his suspension is heard and determined.

Justice Wilfred Okwany dismissed the application for lack of jurisdiction.

She directed that the matter should have been filed before the Sports Dispute Tribunal.

“On a balance of convenience, I note that the respondents have demonstrated …that failure to conduct elections may expose Cricket Kenya to sanctions by the ICC, raising significant public interest considerations,” she stated.

In another case before the Sports Dispute Tribunal, chairman aspirant Tom Shikolo sought orders to allow barred counties to participate in the elections.

The legal battles went down to the wire.

On Friday at 7:45 PM, Justice R.E. Aburili lifted the earlier orders that had blocked the polls.

The court cited, among other issues, non-disclosure of parallel cases.

“…the exparte conservatory orders issued on 14/4/2026 be and is hereby vacated, discharged and set aside. That Cricket Kenya schedule elections for 19/4/2026 shall proceed as scheduled unhindered,” Aburili stated in the judgement.

In Kisii, Justice Odera Achieng read the riot act to the petitioners for abusing the court process.

She warned against filing multiple suits in different courts.

“This proliferation of parallel proceedings offends the doctrine of sub judice and bears the hallmark of forum shopping,” she stated. “Such conduct must be deprecated in the strongest terms, as it risks generating conflicting decisions from courts of concurrent jurisdiction,”

Inside Cricket Kenya, relief was evident after what one source described as a tense week.

“Basically we were under siege. People were just dashing to court to try and stop the elections knowing they were holding us hostage,” the source said, adding that some preferred Kenya faced ICC sanctions.

The successful defence of the elections offers a lifeline to the federation.

 Two weeks ago, CEO Ronald Bukusi said the fresh polls were part of a reform roadmap agreed with the ICC, the Ministry of Sports and the Registrar of Sports.

Sunday’s elections were more than routine. They were a test of governance, credibility and survival for Kenyan cricket.