D-Day for the KCA

A date for the courts to try to resolve the current shambles at the top of Kenyan cricket has been set after all parties were summoned to appear together on February 10.

The decision was made by a judge in Nairobi after he made it clear that he had grown tired of endless ex parte petitions being put before him, and ruled that it was time that the warring factions appeared in front of him at the same time.

Ochillo Ayacko, Kenya's sports minister, had been looking to have several legal moves by the KCA's executive annulled as being illegal. It is claimed that the KCA executive has no legal entity of its own, and as such has no authority to undertake the increasingly complex moves seen in the last fortnight.

The validity of the KCA executive's position appeared to be seriously undermined yesterday when it was revealed that it had not met since October, as it had not been able to assemble enough members to form a quorum. The claim came from Sammy Obingo, who was general manager of the KCA until he was fired by Sharad Ghai, the chairman, last month. If that is true, it means that the moves taken in the name of the executive in recent weeks are actually the actions of individuals within the association. And if the KCA executive has not been able to muster a quorum throughout the growing crisis, it confirms accusations from opponents that it can no longer claim to represent Kenyan cricket.

Claims that some members of the KCA executive have acted on their own were supported by the publication of a letter from Ramesh Bhalla, a member of the executive, claiming that he had not been consulted over the decision to go to court to question the suspension. In a letter to The Nation, he insisted that if his name had been linked with any such action it was "without my express consent or authority".

And there was further criticism yesterday of the Kenyan National Sports Council, which has been the KCA's staunchest supporter in this affair. "The council is a spineless body with no statutory authority to deal with such issues," Ayacko told KTN's Newsline programme. "The council is basically made up of sports officials from the associations who have been left alone to govern themselves."

Ayacko has been openly critical of Joshua Okuthe, the KNSC's chairman, who publicly came out in support of the old executive and criticised the minister's action, accusing him of "misleading the public on matters relating to cricket" and of not telling the truth when he claimed the suspension had caught him unawares.