KENYAN CRICKET IN TATTERS

Government set to dissolve Cricket Kenya

by Bertus de Jong • Last updated on

A statement from the ICC regarding the situation in Kenya is expected in the near future. © Getty

Kenyan cricket suffered yet another blow today with news that the beleaguered governing body of the sport in the country, Cricket Kenya, has been dissolved by the Ministry of Sports and Heritage.

The announcement follows a disastrous showing at World Cricket League Division 2 in February, which saw a winless Kenya relegated to the third tier of Associates Cricket and prompted a stampede for the exits at the organisation, with the Board Chair, Development Secretary, head coach and national captain all resigning within days of each other.

Fresh elections scheduled for last week failed to go ahead, forestalled by the objections of a committee of former players and administrators who called upon the ICC and newly-appointed Sports Minister Rashid Echesa to block the elections and launch an investigation into the boards' alleged incompetence and misappropriation of funds, as well as calling upon Echesa to direct the Sports Registrar to inspect the books of the Nairobi Provincial, Rift Valley, Coast, and Central Cricket Associations. The group went on to assert that Cricket Kenya's current constitution failed to comply with Kenyan law, specifically the Sports Act n5 (2013).

Echesa appears to have taken the group's words to heart, and it is understood that Cricket Kenya was yesterday dissolved on his authority, to be replaced by an interim committee to steer the game until a new constitution can be drafted with a view to holding fresh elections within the next three months.

Said interim committee is to be chaired by the former Vice Chair Harpal Singh Sehmi, with treasurer Ravi Kaul and Rajesh Patel surviving from the previous board. Three members of the "stakeholders group" join them together with three representatives from the Nairobi Provincial Cricket Association. The full nine-member committee consists of Sehmi, Kaul, Patel, David Obuya, Edward Odumbe, Tom Tikolo, Sukhban Singh, Omole Asiko and Walter Trenkof.

It is not the first time that a Kenyan board has fallen afoul of the Sports Ministry, a predecessor of Achesa's as Cabinet Secretary for Sport, Ochillo Ayacko, took similar action against the then Kenya Cricket Association in 2004. The former KCA was eventually replaced by Cricket Kenya under ICC mediation the following year.

It is unclear to what extent, if any, the ICC have been involved in the current dispute. Cabinet Secretary Echesa told The Nation that he had been in consultation with the ICC before taking the decision, but the ICC denied having had any communication at all from the Kenyan government.

The ICC have on occasion been swift to suspend membership under such circumstances. Though the ICC's rules against government interference in cricket administration are more honoured in the breach than in the observance amongst Full Members, Associates Members are not generally treated with the same indulgence, as evidenced by the recent suspension of the Cricket Association of Nepal.

A statement from the ICC regarding the situation in Kenya is expected in the near future, and the ICC's head of Global Development, William Glenwright, is scheduled to visit the country next month.

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