After their withdrawal from the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) qualifiers, Harambee Starlets were handed brief reprieve by the the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) but will not earn a replay against Uganda.CAS ruled that former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) CEO Barry Otieno acted beyond his authority to respond to a letter from Confederation of African Football (CAF) stating the federation was not in a position to meet the latter’s requirements for the game.Caretaker Committee boss concedes defeat in Harambee Starlets AWCON sagaIn a ruling delivered on Friday 10 June, CAS ruled that they have no authority to order a reply of the Starlets and Uganda qualifier clash with the appeal failing to include CAF’s decision to hand Uganda a bye in the qualifiers.“The CAS arbitrator in charge of this matter ruled that CAS had jurisdiction to rule on the appeal filed by the 22 players on 18 February 2022 against the FKF decision but did not have jurisdiction to rule on the request to order the CAF to reinstate the Kenya Women’s National Football Team to the AWCON and to rearrange the matches against Uganda in the second AWCON qualifying round before the start of the AWCON finals group stage on 2 July 2022. ##NAJAVA_MECA_6447543##As to the merits, the sole arbitrator ruled that the decision rendered on 20 January 2022 by Mr Barry Otieno, former CEO of FKF, on behalf of the FKF, was to be set aside as it had been issued “ultra vires”, i.e. by a person who was no longer entitled to act on behalf of the FKF. Since no appeal has been filed against the CAF decision to qualify Uganda to the next qualifying round, the CAS could not review it,” read part of the CAS ruling.Desperate FKF Caretaker Committee begging FIFA to save Harambee StarletsThe appeal at CAS was filed by 22 football players of the women’s national football team of Kenya with Football Kenya Federation (FKF), the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA) also enjoined.The saga kick off when the government disbanded FKF back in November 2021 on grounds of misappropriation of public property and installed a Caretaker Committee.CAF wrote to FKF as standard procedure before every international match but FKF responded noted that they were not in a position to successfully organise the match with their powers transferred to the Caretaker Committee. This led to CAF handing Uganda a walkover and thus qualification to the AWCON, with the country then suspended by FIFA for government interference in football.
