The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) and the Kenya Taekwondo Association (KTA) thought they had a reached an agreement in the High Court in Nairobi yesterday to drop a case which had been preventing elections from being held.

But the Ministry of Sport and Sports Registrar, the body which regulates national governing bodies in Kenya, have announced they are opposed to the matter being withdrawn.

Justice Chacha Mwita criticised the decision by the two parties not to support the agreement which would have seen the KTA drop their case in return for being allowed to vote in the NOCK elections. 

“I am very disappointed because I could be doing other things, I scheduled this matter knowing that you were to record a consent," he said. 

"In the last proceedings you had agreed to have this matter settled once and for all."

An Extraordinary General Assembly, where the overdue elections were due to be held, was called off by NOCK chairman Kipchoge Keino minutes before it was due to start on May 5 after he was served with a writ from the High Court in Nairobi.

It had been obtained by the KTA after they were banned from taking part in the elections due to a leadership row at the organisation.

Kenya Cycling and Kenya Badminton Associations had also been barred from taking part in the elections. 

The KTA had agreed to drop the case after NOCK agreed to allow them to participate in the election. 

NOCK lawyer Edward Rombo has warned that the shock intervention by the Ministry of Sport and Sports Registrar had seriously heightened the chances of Kenya being suspended by the IOC.

"If we are barred from participating in the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games scheduled for next year then the Ministry and the Registrar in particular should take the blame," said Rombo. 

The case has been now adjourned by the High Court until October 17. 

The matter is set to be among the items discussed by the IOC at its Executive Board meeting in Lima on September 11 and 12 where it could be recommended that NOCK is suspended because of Government interference. 

The IOC have repeatedly warned NOCK that Kenya risks being banned unless the situation is resolved. 

The NOCK has been facing this threat since Rio 2016.

They only passed constitutional changes requested by the IOC in March.

Funding from the IOC to NOCK is already suspended as a result of the row.

"We will of course study the latest developments and take whatever action is needed," a spokesperson for the IOC told insidethegames.

"Until this situation is resolved, the IOC has no reason to re-consider its decision - confirmed by the IOC Executive Board at its meeting on 16 March 2017 - to withhold its payments and subsidies to the NOC."

Former marathon world record holder and IOC member Paul Tergat is standing unopposed at the election to replace Keino.