TRIBUNAL’S ROLE: Chair states cases expected are from football, athletics and hockey bodies

Athletics kenya branches affiliates chats with their lawyer Aloise Kwengu (left) shortly after the hearing of the case filed by Abraham Mutai and five others barring them from convening the Special General Meeting (SGM) to discuss the conduct of the AK President Isaiah Kiplagat at Milimani High Court, Nairobi, on 04-12-2014. The ruling will be on 18th December. PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

The recently constituted Sports Tribunal is still working on rules of procedure to start hearing cases filed by aggrieved parties even as it emerged that Athletics Kenya (AK) parties are yet to agree on which tribunal to hear their case.

The tribunal chair, John Ohaga, said they are not objecting to parties exhausting arbitration processes at the federations’ level “so that we can play an appellate role.”

“One of the parties in AK matter prefers arbitration at AK level, while the other has written to us. If that’s what they want (internal arbitration) then fine. We will wait until the stage where it reaches us,” he said.

He added that the judge who sent the dispute to an arbitration did not specify which one they could go to.
AK branches want the national office to call a special general meeting to kick them out of office. But the latter maintains the rebel branches did not follow procedure in seeking the SGM.

He said apart from AK, there are also matters from football where Sammy Sholei has written to them regarding his expulsion from football matters for six years and another from Kenya Hockey Union (KHU), whose details he did not disclose.

“Sholei’s letter reached us this week. We will sit to determine whether it is an appeal or not. Something is also festering in hockey (union),” he said without elaborating. Sholei, elected senior vice under the Sam Nyamweya administration in 2011, was kicked out of football alongside Dan Shikanda (Nairobi branch chairman) and Hussein Terry (Coast FKF NEC representative), went to court to have his expulsion overturned but was told his case was time barred.

Tom Alila, the Nyanza NEC member, with whom they were suspended had his suspension lifted.

They were sanctioned because of taking a dispute to a court of law, contray to Fifa statutes, an accusation Sholei and his co-accused have vehemently denied, arguing that their suspension and ultimate explusion was pure vendetta by FKF top leadership.

Ohaga, a renowned city lawyer and a partner at TripleOK Advocates, said panels will be made up of three members and will follow strict professional ethics and guidelines to avoid perceived conflict of interest.

The tribunal is, meanwhile, awaiting further guidelines, in legal jargon, practice direction, from the Chief Justice, which will be gazetted before they start their work.