DATES FOR FKF POLLS: Elections Board set to complete football elections

FKF Presidential Aspirant Sam Nyamweya, centre, flanked by FKF Election Board members when he presented his nomination papers to Professor Edwin Wamukhoya, third left, at Centre for Multy Party Democracy offices, Nairobi, on Wednesday, Nov 25th, 2014. PHOTO: JONAH ONYANGO.

At last the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) polls will resume this Thursday and are scheduled to end on February 10 with the national elections.

The electoral board said in a statement to the media that repeat elections will be held in three sub-branches tomorrow.

This includes Makadara, Machakos and Nyahururu. The repeat elections were ordered by the appeals board, which found the process had not been fair in the first instance.

When the elections were first held, candidates allied to presidential candidate Nick Mwendwa had won in all the three sub-branches.

All the three petitioners cited various anomalies and the appeals board agreed with them.

After the repeat of the sub-branch polls, the branch elections will follow on January 26 and finally the national elections on February 10.

According to Donald Kipkorir, who chairs the electoral board, they have staggered the dates to ensure that room is given for any appeals that could arise.

“We have staggered dates to enable the full participation of stakeholders and for any complaints that may arise to be resolved. We reiterate that elections held and those to come will be held in the most transparent manner,” he said in his half-page statement.

FKF president Sam Nyamweya has also backed the new dates, saying the Elections Board has calmed nerves.

“Anxiety was building up regarding the limbo that the election process had been thrown into. It is my sincere hope that we shall have no further delay so that football activities can continue with certainty,” Nyamweya said in a statement

Many football stakeholders will be hoping the process will finally come to an end after being postponed a record seven times.

The electoral process kicked on December 4 with sub-branch elections but various appeals lodged by losers made it impossible for it to proceed to the next level.

Anxiety was raised to a high level after the electoral board failed to meet to set new dates as expected in the last one week.