High Court dismisses charges against Petra and Mwendwa

The High Court sitting in Naivasha on Friday quashed a case challenging the candidacy of Doris Petra and Nick Mwendwa in the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) elections scheduled for December 7.

Outgoing FKF Vice President Doris Petra is running for FKF President alongside outgoing FKF President Nick Mwendwa.

Justice Grace Nzioka of the Naivasha High Court has dismissed an application filed by Luthers Mokua, the former president of the FKF Nyamira branch.

Mokua failed to convince the court that the joint application of Doris Petra and Nick Mwendwa violated the Sports Act, the Registrar of Sports Regulations 2016, the FKF Constitution, the Kenyan Constitution and any other enabling laws .

In response to this historic decision, Petra was particularly pleased that all three applications were rejected, opening the door for her candidacy to go down in history as the first female president of the FKF.

“We are happy that justice was served. This case was intended to distract us, but we stayed put and continued to engage the delegates because we knew what to focus on. We thank our lawyers not only for is doing a good job, but also for helping to clarify the law on this issue,” Petra said.

“We are more energetic than ever heading into the December 7 elections. We are confident in our victory, so we can put this process behind us and focus on creating a beautiful game,” Petra said.

Mokua had asked the court to remove Petra and Mwendwa from the FKF presidential vote on three grounds.

The recently dismissed Nyamira president has asked the court to overturn the decision of the FKF electoral council to publish the two candidates as presidential candidates of the federation, who were among the first respondents in the trial.

Additionally, Mokua requested that the court decide that Mwendwa, the third respondent, was ineligible to run for FKF vice president because he had already served two consecutive terms as president of the federation .

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

The court, however, rejected the first request, deeming it unworthy, and the second was considered “normally futuristic”, that is, it could not be applied to a process that had already begun.

In addition to finding that the applicant had not used all dispute resolution procedures authorized by the FKF statutes, the court rejected the third request because it was not convinced by the arguments put forward.

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

“The FKF constitution does not prohibit a member of the national executive committee, including the president and MP, from standing for election to a different position, as this will count as a new term in its own right.”

Lawyer Japheth Munyendo, who represented Petra and Mwendwa in the matter, clarified that all applicable laws and regulations were above reproach.

“The ex parte applicant Luthers Mokua failed to satisfy the honorable court that the joint application of Doris Petra and Nick Mwendwa was inconsistent with the provisions of the Sports Act, the Registrar of Sports Regulations 2016, the Constitution of the FKF, the Constitution of Kenya and any other enabling provisions. of law,” Muyendo said.

“The net effect is that when called upon to impeach said candidacy, the court abandoned its tools, seeing no fault in the provisions of the FKF constitution on which Doris and Nick’s candidacy is based.”

The court ordered Mokua to cover the legal costs of the respondents.

Seven other candidates, including former Nyanza NEC member Tom Alila, Chris Amimo, Sam Ocholla, Sammy “Kempes” Owino, Cleophas Shimanyula, Hussein Mohammed and Barry Otieno, are vying with Doris Petra for the position of FKF president in the elections of December. 7.