A state of confusion persists within the men’s basketball league following the Sports Dispute Tribunal (SDT)’s latest pronouncement that found the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF), its Chairman Paul Otula, and Secretary General Ambrose Kisoi in contempt of previous orders issued on 15th June 2022 during the determination of a contentious case involving the fielding of an ineligible player during a playoffs match.
In the judgment delivered on Monday 5th September 2022, Mr Otula and Mr Kisoi were hit with a Sh 200k fine each to be paid within fourteen (14) days, failure to which they will be committed to civil jail for three (3) months.
This new development comes months after SDT voided the playoffs and ordered a repeat in a stunning move that threw the league schedulers into an organizational nightmare.
The petitioner, a former player Dennis Opiyo, had filed a case with the SDT arguing that Ulinzi Warriors had been allowed to field an ineligible player (Valentine Nyakinda) during their playoff clash against Kisumu Lakeside.
Immediate complaints lodged by Kisumu Lakeside officials and a number of Team Managers across the league were shot down and later the KBF attempted to cover it up by doctoring the team sheets.
According to the KBF rules and regulations, a player can only feature in the playoffs if he/she has played at least three games in the regular league.
Nyakinda had not met that threshold but played, anyway.
As a result, KBF was ordered to restart the 2021 national men’s Kenya Basketball Federation playoffs based on the correct standings from the point immediately following the match between Ulinzi Basketball Club and Lakeside Basketball Club.
Further, the Tribunal ordered that Ulinzi Basketball Club be fined as decided by the Leagues Committee and ratified by the Executive.
The KBF was also directed to meet the cost of restarting the playoffs with the tribunal recommending full investigations into the forged score sheet and that KBF also meet the cost of the petition.
At the time, KBF secretary Ambrose Kisoi said they were due to meet as a federation and find the way forward on the issue.
But as seen in the full determination below, this certainly did not happen.
The matter is set to be mentioned on Tuesday, 20th September 2022 virtually to determine whether there has been compliance.
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