FKF deputy president Doris Petra blasts Sports Registrar in poll eligibility criteria
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) deputy president Doris Petra maintains she will be on the ballot when the sports body’s forthcoming polls in 2024.
In an exclusive interview with Nairobi News on February 8, 2024, Petra, who’s served as FKF’s second in command for the past eight years, accused Sports Registrar Rose Wasike of being ‘used by her opponents to deny her a chance to contest’.
The football boss was responding to a formal correspondence by Ms Wasike indicating she, and FKF president Nick Mwendwa, were among officials ineligible to contest in the same positions in the forthcoming polls as they had already served two four-year terms.
The Kenyan law, in this case, the Sports Act, bars any elected sports official from seeking a third term.
But Petra indicated she had blessings from Fifa, football’s world governing body, to extend her eight-year tenure.
“Let our opponents not fear and meet us at the ballot, Fifa hasn’t told us that we are not eligible for re-election. The law allows us to vie,” she said.
Also reportedly barred from contesting by the Sports Registrar owing to the term limits are National Executive Committee (NEC) members Murithi Nabea (Eastern), Joseph Andere (Nyanza), and Enos Kweya (Western).
Petra said she ‘respects government institutions’ but stressed that ‘no law barred her’ from contesting for what she described as a second term.
“We assumed office in 2016 and the laws in that election were crafted during the tenure of Sam Nyamweya. In 2017, we had an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mombasa and changed the constitution. These rules were used for the first time in the 2020 polls,” explained Petra.
“We won and served our first term from 2020 to 2023 because that is when the new constitution came to effect. We are seeking re-election because our serving under the old constitution from 2016 to 2020 can’t be counted. That is the law,” she said.
The experienced football administrator warned that interfering with the federation elections will draw the wrath of Fifa and another ban is in the offing should issues go that direction.
“Fifa are our financiers and we follow their laws but we also respect government institutions. Facts are facts and it is the same Registrar and Sport Disputes Tribunal (SDT) who allowed the same electoral code which is now being disputed, to be used in the last election,” she said.
On January 6, FKF’s NEC passed a resolution to use the 2020 electoral code in the 2020 polls. elections. If adopted during the AGM slated for March 16, then the code will be used in the polls.
Petra asserted that she will be Mwendwa’s running mate and even when they complete their second term if re-elected, she will still be eligible to go for the federation’s top seat in 2027.
“The issue of (former president) Mwai Kibaki not vying after the promulgation of the 2010 constitution should be used to pin us down. Maybe he had his reasons but he was eligible. Even Mwendwa after finishing his term if we get elected can vie for other posts and I can also vie for FKF presidency.”
Besides, an angry Andere also confirmed he would be on the ballot ‘rain or sunshine’ besides supporting Mwendwa’s re-election.
“We know our constitution and we can’t allow anybody to subvert it. Mark my words, we shall be on the ballot. Wait for the AGM and see for yourself,” said Andere, a long-serving FKF official from Nyanza.
Former FKF president Sam Nyamweya is among those interested in the top football seat. Others are Bandari FC vice-chairman Twaha Mbarak and Extreme Sports Chief Executive Hussein Mohammed.
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