Athletics Kenya v Tanui & 12 others (Civil Appeal E229 of 2024) [2025] KECA 509 (KLR)
The bottom line
#The Court of Appeal ruled that Athletics Kenya officials keep their seats because transitional service doesn't count toward term limits, and courts can't impose unpleaded penalties.
What this practically means
#Executive summary
#Questions the Court framed
#The issues the Court set itself to decide, in its own words.
- 1.Whether the order directing the appellant's officials and Executive Committee members to vacate office after a cumulative 8 years was sustainable under sections 46 and 49 of the Sports Act
- 2.Whether the order barring the executive committee members from re-election could stand where it was neither pleaded nor granted after a hearing
- 3.Whether the Court could fashion reliefs not granted by the trial court in the absence of a properly filed cross-appeal
Key legal issues
#Whether transitional service under the Sports Act counts toward an official's tenure
Service during the statutorily preserved transition cannot count in computing tenure; the trial judge erred in computing a cumulative 8-year term
The parties had, by consent of 10th May 2017, stayed the elections pending the petition. During the constitutional review the law preserved the appellant's existing status for transition. Counting that period toward tenure would leave no one in office to effect the transition, which could not have been the legislative intent. Further, sections 46 and 49 do not provide for removal, so the judge relied on irrelevant provisions.
Whether an unpleaded order of ineligibility for re-election could stand
It could not: no such relief was pleaded and the officials had to be heard before being barred
The petitioners never sought an order barring the executive committee members from re-election. Granting it deprived those officials of the right to be heard on a matter directly affecting them. The judge's order also contradicted his own direction that the appellant amend its constitution.
Whether the appellate court could grant fresh reliefs without a cross-appeal
It could not; the Notice of Cross-Appeal was struck out as out of time and reliefs could not be fashioned for the respondents
Counsel for the respondents urged the Court to issue relevant orders on the pleadings in the interest of justice. The Court held that without a properly filed cross-appeal there was no jurisdictional basis to fashion reliefs beyond those the trial court granted or the appellant challenged.
Whether the challenge to the constitution-review order was live
The appellant did not challenge the order directing further review of its constitution, so that order remained undisturbed
Of the three substantive reliefs granted below, the appellant abandoned the grounds attacking the direction to properly amend the constitution; only the removal and ineligibility orders were challenged and set aside.
Legal principles established
#- Transitional tenure under the Sports Act cannot be counted in computing officials' substantive terms of office
- Sections 46 and 49 of the Sports Act do not provide for removal of officials of a sports organization
- A trial court cannot grant relief that was not sought and which affects parties who were not heard
- An appellate court cannot fashion reliefs for a respondent without a properly filed cross-appeal
Court orders
#- 1.The Notice of Cross Appeal filed by the 1st to 10th respondents was struck out as filed out of time
- 2.The appeal was allowed
- 3.The orders directing the officials and Executive Committee of the appellant to forthwith vacate office and declaring them ineligible to contest for any position in the organization were set aside
- 4.No order as to the costs of the appeal
The bench
#One judgment of the whole court — no separate or dissenting opinions.
- On appeal from
- High Court of Kenya at Nairobi
- null
- Jurisdiction invoked
- First appellate jurisdiction over the High Court (Constitution of Kenya, 2010, Article 164(1)(a) and applicable appeal provisions) - the judgment does not state the specific provision
Relief refused
#Respondents' request that the Court fashion appropriate reliefs notwithstanding the striking out of the cross-appeal
Without a properly filed cross-appeal the Court had no basis to fashion reliefs not granted by the trial court
Appellant's application to admit the Notice of Cross Appeal out of time (raised by respondents)
The Court found no basis for admitting a cross-appeal filed out of time
Costs
No order as to the costs of the appeal, the dispute being in the nature of public litigation; at the trial court, each party was to bear its own costs of the Petition.
Quotable passages
#Verbatim from the judgment, each located to the page it appears on in the official PDF — so these can be cited and checked directly.
In the premises, we allow the appeal and set aside the orders directing the oficials and Executive Committee of the appellant to forthwith vacate ofice and that they are ineligible to contest for any position in the organization.
We make no order as to the costs of the appeal, this dispute being in the nature of public litigation.
Although Mr Kibe Mungai pleaded with the Court to admit the said Notice of Cross-Appeal, we found no basis for doing so hence the Notice of Cross Appeal was struck out.
Accordingly, the learned Judge erred in relying on irrelevant legal provisions in granting the orders removing the appellant's oficials and executive committee members from the ofice.
It cannot therefore be said that during the said period, a period when the said oficials had to be in the ofice, courtesy of a legal provision, in order to efiect the transition, the said oficials could be said to have been in the ofice for the purposes of computing their tenure in the ofice.
Issues in the judgment
#The case number of this appeal and the neutral citation do not appear in the judgment text; the coram appears only in the delivery block
Key timeline
#Practical implications
#Frequently asked questions
#Cite this brief
#Cite this brief
Caselaw, "Athletics Kenya v Tanui & 12 others (Civil Appeal E229 of 2024) [2025] KECA 509 (KLR)", Case Analysis (2025). Civil Appeal (undetermined from the judgment text). Source: https://new.kenyalaw.org/akn/ke/judgment/keca/2025/509/eng@2025-03-21
Suggested citation format for research notes or client memos. Always verify the original judgment before relying on any point.