Court dismisses case seeking to axe Petra, Mwendwa from FKF presidential race

Justice Grace Nzioka rejected all the requests made by the applicant – one Luthers Mokua, paving way for Petra and Mwendwa to jostle against seven others for the federation’s presidency.

Mokua in his first prayer wanted the court to quash the decision of the FKF Electoral Board – the first respondents in the suit – to publish the two as candidates for the federation’s presidential election.

Mokua also wanted the court to declare the third respondent – Mwendwa – ineligible to vie for the FKF Vice President position on “December 7,2024 and or any other date.”

Another order that Mokua sought was a declaration that Article 43(3) of the FKF Constitution 2017 is inconsistent with the provisions of Section 46(5) of the Sports Act No.25 of 2013 and is therefore null and void.

However, the court declined the first prayer as unmerited, while the second was interpreted as “normally futuristic,” thus cannot apply on what was already started.

The court declined the third prayer as it was not convinced on the grounds raised, while it also found that the applicant had not exhausted the dispute settling mechanism as provided for in the FKF constitution.

According to Article 37 (f) of the FKF constitution, all members of the NEC are eligible for a maximum of two terms in a position.

"Thereafter, one is free to seek election in a different position as it shall count as a new as it shall count as a new term of office in its own right."

Reacting to the ruling, Counsel Japheth Munyendo who represented Petra and Mwendwa in the suit explained that no fault was found on provisions of all relevant laws and regulations.

“The ex parte applicant Luthers Mokua, the dethroned FKF Nyamira branch chair failed to convince the honorable court that the joint candidature of Doris Petra and Nick Mwendwa was inconsistent with the provisions Sports Act, Sports Registrar’s Regulations of 2016, the FKF Constitution, the constitution of Kenya and any other enabling provisions of law.

“The net effect is that when called upon to impeach the said candidature, the court downed its tools, seeing no fault on provisions of FKF constitution that Doris and Nick candidacy is hinged on,” elucidated Munyendo, popularly known as Chu Tsi.

Instead, Mokua was ordered to compensate the respondents for the incurred costs in the case.

Petra was particularly over the moon after the ruling.

“We are happy that justice has prevailed. This case was supposed to distract us but we stayed put and continued engaging the delegates because we knew what to focus on. We thank our lawyers for not only doing their well-done job but also helping in the bringing clarity of the law on this matter.

“We are now energised more than ever heading to the December 7 elections. We are confident of winning, so that we can put this process behind us and concentrate on building the beautiful game,” said Petra.

Tom Alila, Chris Amimo, Sam Ocholla, Sammy ‘Kempes’ Owino, Cleophas Shimanyula, Hussein Mohammed and Barry Otieno are other contestants eyeing to succeed Mwendwa as the FKF president in the December 7 polls.