When I first wrote about the aborted match between Nairobi United and Gor Mahia, many people dismissed my argument. Some even mocked it. But the law has a stubborn habit, it eventually catches up with those who try to bend it.

The abandoned league match between Nairobi United and Gor Mahia, played at Dandora Stadium during the 2025-26 FKF Premier League season. The match was disrupted and stopped in the 58th minute.

Instead of applying the rules that governed the competition when the season began, the Football Kenya Federation Leagues and Competitions Committee (LCC) took the extraordinary step of awarding one point to each team, effectively declaring a result for a match that had not even been completed.

Notably, Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier was a member of LCC. Nairobi United was unrepresented.

Even more puzzling, the same matter was simultaneously subjected to disciplinary proceedings before the FKF Disciplinary Committee. Two parallel processes on the same issue, a classic case of procedural irregularity and double jeopardy.

To justify this decision, FKF clandestinely introduced a new regulatory framework called “Football Regulations (2025)” – rules that clubs had neither participated in drafting nor officially received.

According to sources, the real reason there is quagmire in the Nairobi United vs Gor Mahia forfeited match ruling is the referee’s report that said the match did not end because of violence of any sort but rather “it was too dark to play.”

The centre referee Brooke Philip and the other match officials invoked force majeure principle to call off the match in the 58^th minute. The report claims there was darkness in the stadium, although the time was only 5:30pm and the sun was up and clear. (In Kenya, the sun sets at 6:30pm.)

This is clearly an influenced match report and the day’s officials must be called to account and also kicked out of the league for bringing the game into disrepute.

Everyone saw what happened in broad daylight (despite the officials claiming there was darkness in the stadium) and there was still time to finish the match. In any case looking at the seasons of the year, there are longer days and enough sunlight.

Chaos broke out after Nairobi United tied the match at 1-1 in the 56^th minute. One does not need rocket science to guess the culprits.

The referee’s and match commissaire’s reports are clear pointers to match-fixing.

Faced with this clear irregularity, Nairobi United moved to the Sports Disputes Tribunal, arguing that the only legitimate rules governing the competition were the 2019 Football Rules and Regulations, which all clubs had accepted before the league kicked off.

The tribunal delivered its verdict last week and it was a damning one. Key findings of the tribunal are as below:

• The LCC decision awarding both teams one point has been quashed.
• The secretly introduced 2025 Football Regulations have been nullified for lack of public participation.
• The Nairobi United vs Gor Mahia dispute has been sent back to the LCC for fresh determination using the 2019 Rules.
• The LCC has been ordered to issue a verdict within seven days. 
• The disciplinary proceedings before the FKF Disciplinary Committee have been quashed. 
• The tribunal further ruled that the Disciplinary Committee itself was irregularly constituted, having been appointed without proper approval of the FKF General Assembly as required by the FKF Constitution. 
• FKF has now been ordered to properly reconstitute the Disciplinary Committee within 60 days.

Let that sink in. The tribunal has now confirmed that:

• The federation applied illegal regulations. 
• A key judicial body was improperly constituted. 
• The decision affecting a top-flight league match had no legal foundation.

This is not a small administrative mistake. This is a governance failure at the very heart of the federation.

The courage shown by Nairobi United’s leadership deserves recognition. Standing up to a powerful federation structure is never easy, but they chose principle over convenience.

Equally notable was the support from Boniface Ambani, the chairman of AFC Leopards, who publicly questioned the legality of changing football rules mid-season.

Their stand reminded many of us of an earlier era of Kenyan football leadership when club chairmen like: The late George Odhiambo (KCB), the late Robert ‘Bob’ Munro (Mathare United) and Ken Ochieng (Zoo Kericho) during the KPL-FKF Broadcast Rights standoff, the late Alex Ole Magelo (AFC Leopards), Elio Loli (Thika United), James Musyoki (Tusker FC), Lt-Gen Juma Mwanyikai (Ulinzi Stars), Eng Abdullahi Samatar (Bandari) and others defended the integrity of the league without fear or favour.

This tribunal victory is therefore not about three points. It is about restoring the rule of law in Kenyan football. But justice without accountability is incomplete.

The tribunal decision is a direct indictment of the departments responsible for this mess, particularly the FKF CEO, the Leagues and Competitions Committee Chair, and the legal structures of the federation involved in advisory roles that led to the irregular appointment of the disciplinary committee members and the repealed football rules.

These offices are held by individuals who ought to know better, some of them trained legal professionals.

When a national federation is publicly corrected by a tribunal on matters of basic governance and due process, serious sporting jurisdictions treat that as grounds for immediate accountability. Kenyan football deserves no less.

Therefore, for the sake of restoring credibility and confidence in the administration of the game, the Hussein Mohamed-led FKF must now take decisive action and relieve the officials responsible for the gross incompetence that led to that legal embarrassment.

The league cannot continue to be managed through guesswork and improvisation, especially since the FKF president recently fired its secretary general on the basis of incompetence.

While the immediate former CEO’s incompetence is yet to be ascertained, these individual’s inability to run such offices has been proven by the tribunal. Therefore, the FKF president will have to really convince us why they must continue holding those offices.

The message from the tribunal is clear: the rules matter. FKF must immediately prove that accountability matters too.

• A Tell Media report / By Samini Juma