“At the time of the communication of the said deadline by the board, the IMC had also issued a similar communication to the club membership setting the deadline for the closure of membership registration on 15th June 2016. As a result, the June 6 deadline was not met,” the electoral board said in its statement.PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu.
NAIROBI, Kenya, June 17- The AFC Leopards electoral board has indefinitely postponed the club’s elections initially set for July 3 after failing to acquire proper voter’s register from the Interim Management Committee (IMC).
Consequently, the Sports Disputes Tribunal has extended the IMC’s tenure which was set to expire at the end of this month to July 30.
According to a statement from the electoral board, the IMC failed to meet an earlier deadline of June 6 to forward a compiled voter register to the electoral board inaugurated on April 28.
“At the time of the communication of the said deadline by the board, the IMC had also issued a similar communication to the club membership setting the deadline for the closure of membership registration on 15th June 2016. As a result, the June 6 deadline was not met,” the electoral board said in a statement.
The period of operation of the IMC was set to lapse June 30 and the postponement of the elections would throw the club into a leadership vacuum hence the extension of their tenure to the end of July.
The club has up to Monday, June 20 to hand over the final voter register to the board.
After that, they will review and analyze the register and publish it for scrutiny before announcing a final calendar for the eagerly anticipated elections.
“The IMC will stand disbanded by July 30 whether or not the elections are held. The tribunal’s extension of the term of the IMC means the club elections must be held before July 30,” the electoral board offered.
AFC Leopards co chairman Dan Mule (center) says they will send the complete voter register on Monday.PHOTO/Timothy Olobulu.
This comes even as the club’s fans protested the way the club was being run by the IMC and now want both co chairmen Dan Mule and Mathews Opwora to quit the club.
“I was also of the opinion that the elections be held by July 3 and I had said I would resign if they are not held. But now, it is because of unforeseen reasons that we can’t hold them. But I want to promise the fans that we will have the elections before July 30.
We have already had a provisional list which we have prepared and by Monday we will forward the final list to the IMC. It is within our interest to hold these elections because the more they delay, the more we have squabbles in the team,” Dan Mule, one of the co chairmen told Capital Sport.
The club members expressed fear the two who have already declared interest in going for the top seat during the elections might doctor the list of members in a bid to rig the election.
Leadership squabbles at the club in January led Sports Disputes Tribunal led by John Ohaga to form an interim committee to take charge of the club prior to organizing a free and fair election process.
