All clear for KHU polls after court throws out petition

Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) is free to hold its elections this Saturday after the High Court on Thursday dismissed a case seeking to stop the polls.

Hockey Kenya Federation (HKF) had on Monday obtained a temporary injunction to stop the Annual General Meeting.

Through its vice chairperson George Jalang’o, HKF is contesting the validity and mandate of the Kenya Hockey Union as the representative body for the sport in the country.

Jalang’o wanted the court to stop Saturday’s AGM and compel KHU to provide its audited financial reports of 2013 to date, full list of registered office bearers and a copy of its constitution.

While dismissing the petition yesterday, High Court Judge, Joseph Sergon ruled that HKF failed to establish sufficient grounds to have Saturday’s AGM stopped.

Sergon sided with KHU, which argued that Jalang’o not been a member or official of the body was not entitled to be given the documents he had asked for.

“The applicant has therefore failed to establish a prima facie case to be given the orders and in the end I find the motion to be without merit. It is dismissed with costs to the interested party (KHU),” read Judge Sergon in his ruling Thursday at Milimani.

KHU represented by Sports lawyer Edward Rombo, argued that stopping the AGM would seriously inconvenience it, having spent huge amounts of money in preparing for the meeting which will bring together delegates from across the country.

The ruling is a blow to HKF, which two years ago had a petition filed at the Sports Disputes Tribunal seeking to have KHU declared unlawful also thrown out.  The court’s ruling now paves way for Saturday’s elections at the Parklands Sports Club.

The elections have twice been postponed due to various reasons with the four-year term of the current office having expired last month.

The election were due to be held on October 28 but were postponed due to the Africa Cup of Nations which were held In Ismailia, Egypt from October 22-29. They were then pushed to December 16 only to be postponed to allow affiliates time to hold their elections.

A total of 19 candidates will battle for the 10 positions in the polls which will be overseen by Center for Sports Law.

KHU chairman Nashon Randiek, who was elected unopposed during the last election in 2013, will this time have an opponent in Nairobi Hockey Association’s Inderjit Singh Matharu, a former Kenya international and Olympian.