NAIROBI, March 3 (Xinhua) -- A lobby group comprising of ex-international and current players, coaches, umpires and other stakeholders has launched a bid to stop the upcoming Cricket Kenya (CK) elections until constitutional reforms are undertaken.
The group has also called for the setting up of a caretaker committee to oversee the game in the East African nation until a new board and officials have been elected and taken office.
Kenyan cricket was thrown into a leadership crisis mid-February following the resignation of the board president, Jackie Jan Mohamed, interim coach of the national team, Thomas Odoyo and team captain, Rakep Patel after Kenya was relegated to division three of the ICC World Cricket League following a disastrous performance in the division two tournament in Namibia where they lost all their matches.
Following the leadership void, the board of Cricket Kenya called for elections to be held on March 24 to elect new leadership, but the cricketers have launched a bid to stop the impending polls.
In a strongly-worded legal notice, the team accused the current officials of myriad of misdemeanor that include lack of accountability in leadership, failure to publish their statement of accounts, and failure to amend or draft a new constitution in line with Kenya Sports Act 2013 as required by law.
"We demand CK to immediately halt and suspend the national council elections as a result of the resignation of the chairperson and director, and open their books for inspection and any corrupt practices and criminal offences should be reported to the appropriate authorities and prosecuted," the letter said in part.
Those who signed the letter include former and current international players Steve Tikolo, David Obuya, Martin Suji, Tito Odumbe, Charles Obuya Francis Onyango and Edward Omondi, Dennis Angara and Collins Obuya.
