By Eric Adede,

There is a feeling in the air of impending elections in our beautiful club, although no one knows when or how.

A few of us have hit the campaign trail which confuses some of us as an election has not been called, granted the incumbent might have unlawfully extended his term of office and might not be in a hurry to call elections any time soon, however hitting the campaign trail without proper communication or program in my view is selfish and naive. It’s like an athlete who is preparing to compete without a competition.

There are fundamental issues that all well meaning stakeholders in this club should ensure are put in place before we even imagine participating in an election lest we go the ‘Museveni Way!’

We need to ensure that a proper election program is in place by;

1.Complying with the Sports Act.
1.1 getting a new
Constitution.
1.2 A members Register
1.3 An election date that
is negotiated and
agreed upon by all
Stakeholders.
1.4 An independent
body to conduct
Elections
1.5 Election Rules.

Any other matter that members will agree on in well organized and pronounced AGM.

Going for any elections with the current status in the club is akin to handing power to the incumbent( you can take this to the bank).
Instead of running around like radar less people campaigning over nothing, we need put our focus on sanitizing the electoral process.

I know some of us are only interested in the club for selfish ends or some imaginary power and/or status, however I beseech us to do soul searching and ask ourselves ‘what do we want to bequeath to the future generations that love our beloved club? cutting deals with the incumbent is self defeating, I know there were meetings held on the “5th floor”to hand over power to some of us when it was expected that the ‘king’ would ascend to the FKF Presidency, when that failed, hell broke loose, but are these the kind of leaders we want? We need individuals with a spine, people who can stand with what they believe in no matter the circumstances, you cannot go to bed with someone today then a few hours later they are the ‘Devils you would rather not have known!’ That hypocrisy has no space in the world of integrity, blowing hot and cold is dangerous for our progress.

It’s not enough to to copy paste manifestos and purport to breath new life in agendas that are not ours, we need have a genuine strategy, desire and hunger to infuse change in the club, let’s have a debate and answer the difficult questions.

In my view it’s not time for campaigns yet, for us to keep moving forward lets sanitize our electoral structures.

*Eric came second to the incumbent Gor Mahia chairman Mr. Ambrose Rachier in the last club’s elections in January 2014; he believes the process was opaque, and was designed to favor Mr. Rachier. He is yet to formally declare his candidature for the same post in the polls expected this year, but it is believed he is considering the same.

Collins Okinyo

Ex- CAF Media Expert. An expert on African football with over 15 years experience ,always with an ear to the ground with indepth knowledge of the game. I have worked for top publications including 7 years at www.supersport.com until i founded www.soka25east.com to quench the thirst of football lovers across the continent. I have trained young upcoming journalists who are now a voice in African football.I have covered World Cup,AFCON,CHAN,Champions League,Confederations Cup,Cecafa,Cosafa,Wafu and many other football tournaments across the World. Founder Football Africa Arena(FAA),Founder www.afrisportdigital.com