NOC-K Elections: Mutuku, Maluki face off to succeed Tergat

After several weeks of delay and postponement, the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) elections will finally be held during today’s Elective General Assembly at Hyatt Regency, Westlands, Nairobi.

Current first Vice President Shadrack Maluki of Team New Dawn/Fresh NOC-K and Secretary General Francis Mutuku of NOC-K Service Team are both aiming to succeed outgoing President Paul Tergat.

The elections were initially slated to be held on April 24 during the Annual General Meeting (AGM), but they were abruptly postponed due to disputes on voting rights involving delegates from some wrangling federations.

Volleyball, taekwondo, handball, and triathlon federations all differed over who had the right to vote between their Presidents and Secretary Generals.

To avoid a repeat of what happened during the AGM, today’s elections to be conducted by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) have been restricted to only candidates, voting and non-voting delegates (President and Secretary General), current Executive Committee members and accredited journalists. The Ministry of Sports, International Olympic Committee members (Paul Tergat and Humphrey Kayange), Sports Registrar, Kenya National Paralympic Committee, Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) and Elections Observation Group (ELOG) will serve as observers.

While the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT) directed that the elections should be conducted as per NOC-K constitution, 2013 Sports Act and 2025 Elections Rules and Regulations, it is not yet clear if the wrangling federations have used their internal mechanisms or courts to settle their issues ahead of the eagerly awaited exercise.

Equally, IOC urged NOC-K members and concerned parties to resolve their issues through provisions provided in the NOC-K constitution. According to IOC, federation heads are the legitimate voting delegates.

“The process to confirm the delegates, including the voting delegate, of each member Federation entitled to attend and vote at the NOCK Elective General Assembly is clearly set out in the NOCK Constitution (in particular articles 13.1, 14.6 and 17.12)," read part of the letter mailed by IOC to outgoing NOC-K President Paul Tergat on May 9, 2025.

"Any such decision should be taken by the competent governing bodies of each Federation in accordance with their respective Constitutions/Statutes, noting that common sense should prevail and that, in principle, it is the President of each Federation (who is normally the main legal representative of the Federation) who should be the voting delegate of the Federation, unless he/she is absent or unable to attend for any reason, in which case the Federation should appoint another voting delegate, as mentioned in the NOCK Constitution."

With time running out and no more stumbling blocks, Francis Mutuku of NOC-K Service Team says both camps are ready for elections.

“As we speak, there is no court order stopping the elections. Save for one pending that we hope to be solved before today, all the other cases before SDT have been finalised,” Mutuku told Standard Sports.

“The matters were internal in nature, and we are praying that elections will proceed and no one will stop them again. We have run out of time and delayed a lot of activities; the sports calendar needs to proceed without holding them back.”

His sentiments were echoed by Team New Dawn/Fresh NOC-K’s Andrew Mudibo, who faces competition from John Ogolla of weightlifting for the Secretary General post.

“Court cases are normal, but we are now okay and set for elections. If any of the federations haven’t solved their issues, the General Assembly will address them before proceeding with the elections. For the sake of our sportsmen, we must put our egos aside and ensure the elections are held. The Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026, which are the foundation for the 2028 Olympic Games, are just around the corner, yet nothing is happening as far as athletes’ preparations are concerned. It doesn’t matter if you are Team Dawn or Service, we must put athletes’ interests first,” said Mudibo.

Barnaba Korir (Athletics Kenya Youth Development Director), currently serving as NOC-K Executive Member, will battle it out with Antony Otieno Ombok (Boxing Federation of Kenya President) for the first Vice President seat while shooting’s Mohamed Shoaib Vayani and fencing’s Francis Chege will square it out for the Treasurer slot.