EXCLUSIVE: Fifa postpones talks with govt over aborted FKF polls
Fifa has postponed its planned meeting with Sports Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa and other football stakeholders by a month, Nairobi News can exclusively confirm.
The said meeting’s main agenda was to deliberate on the protracted impasse between FKF and the Sports Disputes Tribunal (SDT) on FKF’s aborted elections and the National Executive Committee members’ term of office.
That meeting was originally slated for April 6, but is now slated for May, subject to the situation with the coronavirus pandemic and international flights worldwide.
“Considering the current worldwide sanitary situation and our institutional travel restrictions, we kindly inform you that the holding of such a meeting in Nairobi shall be postponed to May 2020, once we can resume travelling and upon receipt of further information from your side on the health situation in Kenya,” explained a Fifa spokesperson.
On March 25, days after SDT chairman John Ohaga nullified FKF county and national polls for the second time in three months, Fifa’s Chief Member Association Officer Veron Monsengo-Omba wrote a letter to FKF general secretary Barry Otieno indicating he was ready to meet and debate with the aforementioned stakeholders in Kenya ‘for the sake of peace.’
“Fifa is ready to meet as soon as possible with the FKF, the SDT representatives(s), the Minister for Sport and any other relevant stakeholders in order to find a way forward. In this respect, should the world health situation evolve positively by April 6, 2020, we shall soon contact you to explore other possibilities including a meeting bu video conference,” Monsengo-Omba’s letter read in part.
Ohaga also suggested the constitution of a normalisation committee to run football affairs in the country on an interim basis, but Fifa rejected that proposal.
The SDT chairman is set to rule on the matter on April 21.