The eagerly awaited Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections received the green light on Tuesday after the Kitui High Court lifted orders that blocked the polls.
In the ruling, Hon. Justice Robert Limo lifted an injunction that halted the FKF branch elections from taking place last Saturday, citing the existence of a similar case filed at the Milimani Law Courts.
Gordon Ogado, an advocate of the High Court, was seeking to have FKF deregistered by the Sports Registrar and for the Kenya Football Association (KFA), a body said to be compliant with the Sports Act of 2013, to be allowed to oversee the elections and manage football in the country.
“The petition is substantially similar to the Milimani petition; therefore, we stay the petition,” ruled Hon. Justice Robert Limo.
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He also noted that Ogado had not followed the due process by declaring that he had filed a similar matter and had not withdrawn the same.
“There are procedures to withdraw a case in court and the petitioner has not shown that he followed the same,” said the judge.
Lawyers representing FKF told the court that stopping the process would cause a lot of harm to Kenyan football, a position that was supported by the state law office who pointed out that the country risks being banned by world governing body FIFA if the elections are not held.
Reacting to the ruling, the FKF electoral board confirmed that elections will now proceed on Thursday 14 November.
“Following the hearing, we are pleased to inform you that the stay orders have been lifted. The Football Kenya Federation elections will now take place on 14 November 2024.
Please be assured that we remain unwaveringly committed to overseeing an election process that is free, fair, transparent, credible and verifiable in all respects,” noted a statement signed by FKF Electoral Board Chair Hesbon Owilla and FKF Electoral Board Secretary Marceline Sande.
The county elections were to be followed by the national elections that are set to be held on December 7.
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