A change of guard is expected at the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) as the umbrella body goes to national polls for first time in over 10 years amid calls for reforms.
About 179 delegates from 26 sub-regions in the country are slated to meet in Nairobi in October 16th to elect new officials. The last national polls were held in May 2007.
Supkem national elections have been postponed several times in the recent past by a flurry of court cases, which were reportedly instigated by a section of current office holders to delay their exit from office.
Supkem's current Secretary-General Adan Wachu and Chairperson Prof. Abdulghafur El-Busaidy, who have been the main faces of the Muslim body in the last decade, are among officials who have dropped out of the race.
Prof. El-Busaidy reportedly opted out due to health reasons with long-term diplomat Yusuf Nzibo seeking to succeed him in the upcoming polls.
Supkem's Deputy Secretary General Hassan Ole Naado is seen as the front runner to take over from Wachu and positions himself as a reformer who will inject professionalism in the running of the organisation.
He has been active in the civil society in areas of governance, peace building, conflict resolution and countering violent extremism.
He was among the handful of civil society personalities selected to meet former US President Barack Obama when he visited Kenya last year.
Ole Naado is expected to battle it out with Adan Mahat, a diplomat who heads the Great Lakes Region Desk at the Foreign Affairs Ministry and has been Kenya's envoy to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
Mahat is reportedly backed by a section of outgoing Supkem officials, a scenario that risks portraying the career diplomat as a "status quo" or "business-as-usual" candidate amidst growing calls by Muslim faithfuls for reforms and accountability in Supkem's management.
In the recent years, Supkem's influence and credibility has waned within the Muslim community over perceptions of mismanagement, playing partisan politics and misuse of resources. It was formed in 1973 as an umbrella body for all Muslim organisations in Kenya.
The October 16 polls date was fixed by the court after consultations with parties to the case. It would have been postponed yet again had the country's electoral body not rescheduled the country's presidential polls from 17th to 26th of October.
Last week, a section of Muslim faithfuls also petitioned the Registrar of Societies to compel Supkem to conduct national elections claiming current office bearers had overstayed their terms in office.
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