Whistle blown on 'missing' kits as Basketball season set to continue despite SDT ruling

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) is yet to receive the Sports Dispute Tribunal’s (SDT) judgement in a case that has nullified the men’s 2021 league playoffs.

As such, Secretary General (SG) Ambrose Kisoi says the federation is unable to make informed decisions on the way forward as far as the case goes as they need to get the finer details on the ruling first.

Additionally, the federation through the SG wrote to stakeholders, on 16 June, maintaining that the 2022 league that enters the third round this weekend will continue as planned as it is not a subject of the said case.

“We are still waiting for the judgement in its entirety so we can make the next move. Only the conclusion was read in court and we were promised to have the documented ruling within three days.

We need to understand how the ruling was arrived at, what arguments were made and if there is any appeal to be made what it will be based on and we cannot do that based on the conclusions read in court,” offered Kisoi in an interview with Mozzart Sport.

As for the 2022 season, Kisoi argued that since it is not a subject of the case action can continue since most of the teams are not affected by the said ruling or any other development that might arise from the case.

Kisumu Lakeside, the team set to benefit from the ruling if upheld as they played Ulinzi Warriors in the playoff quarters has since written to the federation expressing their intention to discontinue play on their end as they await the playoff replay.

Even before the dust could settle, Dennis ‘Dikembe’ Opiyo, who is the complainant in the case at SDT that will see Ulinzi Warriors fined as per KBF League Committee’s determination for fielding an ineligible player, if the ruling is upheld, has written to the National Olympics Committee of Kenya (NOC-K), calling for investigations into missing kits issued to the national team ahead of the Afrobasket.

“On the 20 of August 2021, NOC Kenya issued a number of items to the Kenya Basketball Federation to be used by the players and technical officials for the Afro Basket assignment. The items released by NOC Kenya included 26 t-shirts, 26 travel bags and 26 pairs of track suits

However, the 26 pairs of track suits were never issued to the team and there has been no official communication as to the whereabouts of these items. Kenya has previously had instances of athletes' items not reaching the intended recipients denting the image of the country's sports sector.

It is on this premise that I wish to kindly request the Secretary General to look into this matter and find out what happened to the track suits,” reads the letter.