Kempes files petition at Fifa's Court of Arbitration for Sports to challenge FKF Electoral Code

From Right: Former FKF vice president Sammy Sholei, FKF presidential aspirant Sammy Owino ‘Kempes’, his deputy Andrew Amukowa, FKF Women representative aspirant Charity Wangoma and former FKF CEO Michael Esakwa during a press briefing in Nairobi on Saturday. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) held its Special General Meeting (SGM) last month where the Electoral Code was debated upon, passed and ratified by the attending delegates.

One of the contentious clauses approved at the high powered meeting is the requirement of candidates to have a two-year involvement with the Kenyan game.

Initially, this was a four-year requirement before it was trimmed by the Special General Meeting (SGM) to two years.

It is now apparent that this rule has come back to haunt some of the contestants ahead of the scheduled FKF polls slated for December 2024.

It is on this note that one of the candidates for the FKF presidency, Sammy Owino 'Kempes' has gone ahead to file a case with the Fifa’s Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) in Switzerland to have the clause nullified so as to give candidates what he termed as a level playing ground in the elections.

He said he presented the petition to CAS on September 3, 2024.

"The path initiated by FKF through the just concluded SGM, will not result in a free, fair, and credible elections. Instead, it will lock out qualified individuals and clubs from participating despite the electoral code changes that were made," Owino underlined at a press conference in Nairobi on Saturday.

"It will also result in continued litigation. This direction will most likely result in the country losing the opportunity to host Afcon in 2027," he stated.

Owino is also seeking redress with the world football governing body, where he wants the latter to set up a Normalisation Committee to take over the running of football in the country.

"Our state of football is not and has not been normal for a while. As a result, football standards have deteriorated to where we are today. The federation has and continues to be faced with legal challenges. The only sensible path forward is to normalize the game and this should be done by Fifa,” said Owino.

The former Harambee Stars and Gor Mahia midfielder believes the path he has taken and is fighting for will result in a free, fair and credible elections that will be open to qualified candidates and clubs, and a football future free of litigation.

"This direction will assure the hosting of Afcon in 2027 and set forth a future of football with lots of possibilities. That is what we are fighting for,” he stated.

“Regardless of the election process in place, we want to make it clear that as Team Kempes, we will participate in any form of elections that will be in place. Our goal is to win despite or regardless of the election process in place. However, our concern remains winning an election and having it annulled through the judicial process.”

The US-based legend officially made his bid for the FKF presidency on October 24 last year, pledging to restore trust and sanity in the Kenyan game.

In his detailed manifesto, the 64-year old father of five promised to have an effective leadership that will work towards upgrading of football infrastructures and roping in corporate and sponsors to take the sports to the next level.