Soccer-Kenyan officials say FIFA ban not justified

By Jack Oyoo

NAIROBI, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Two Kenyan officials banned from all football-related activity by FIFA said on Friday they would appeal against what they called the "unjustified" ruling.

FIFA's ethics committee banned three former Kenyan officials on Thursday after it ruled they had been involved in irregularities surrounding the selection of Kenyan referees and assistant referees for the FIFA List of International Referees.

Former General Secretary of the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) Daniel Omino and former chairman of the Kenyan Referees Association Wycliffe Ogutu were each banned for five years.

"The ban is unjustified. It has no basis whatsoever in law of natural justice. I will definitely appeal against it," Omino told Reuters.

Ogutu also said he would appeal. Both men accused officials in their organisations of plotting the move to get them out of the way ahead of KFF elections due later this year.

A third official, Samson Kawa, the former treasurer of the Kenya Football Referees Association, was banned for two years.

Alfred Ndinya, the most senior listed FIFA referee from Kenya, was warned about his future conduct.

FIFA said the KFF had summoned an unusually large number of candidates to the annual selection process for the nominees for the list and allegedly demanded money from candidates who wished to be included in the final list.