Federations await tribunal fates ahead of Nock polls

The hearing to determine the fates of Kenya Rowing and Canoe Association will be done on May 2 with the ruling set to be announced within three days thereafter, the Sports Tribunal said on Tuesday.

The three days’ timeline was given in respect to the National Olympics Committee (Nock) elections due May 5 where the federation is among 19 others that will participate in the voting process.

Along with the Kenya Cycling, the Rowing and Canoeing federation was denied registration by the Sports Registrar after presenting two warring factions.

The two affiliate federations are among five that risk being locked out of the May polls that will see incumbent Nock President Dr. Kipchoge Keino face off with track legend Paul Tergat in the race for the national body’s top job.

The others that are yet to comply with the requirements are Kenya Handball Federation, Kenya Weightlifting Federation and Kenya Taekwondo Federation.

The situation leaves the candidatures of James Chacha (Assistant Secretary General) and Stephen Arap Soi (Assistant Treasurer) in limbo since they were nominated by the Taekwondo federation.

The fate of the Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) also hangs in the balance as it is subject to an inspection by the Registrar of Sports after the Sports Tribunal had ruled that they needed to be disbanded by Sports Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Hassan Wario.

The current Nock Secretary General Francis Kinyili Paul is chairman of the KHF and faces a similar fortune over reelection as Chacha and Soi but says he is assured all is safe.

“They did not rule that it should be disbanded because the CS (Wario) has no powers to disband any federation or Nock. As far as I’m concerned the elections will go on as scheduled. I have already submitted a list of 19 federations that will vote and none will be locked out due to the Sports Act because they were members of Nock before the Act came into existence,” Kinyili emphasised.

So far only Athletics Kenya (AK) Cricket Kenya, Kenya table Tennis Association (KTTA), Kenya Lawn Tennis Association (KLTA), Kenya Golf Federation (KGF) and Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) have transited under section 50 of the Sports Act of 2013, while the rest have interim certificates.

Candidates who are vying for the positions of President, Secretary General and Treasurer will need to have clearance certificates from the Kenya Police Service, Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission (EACC) as well as the Credit Reference Bureau in line to the Sports Act 2013.

“There are some candidates who were request to complete their nomination form, if they fail to do so then they will lock themselves out. There others had a problem with their status of registration; if they do not bring enough evidence to support their argument then they will also be left out,” Irene Tindi of Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD)-Kenya – the body thatwill oversee Nock elections said.

CMD-Kenya is also expected to unveil Executive Committee candidates on Wednesday at their Nairobi headquarters.