Three Kenya Premier League referees have been suspended by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF).
On Thursday, the FKF in conjunction with the Instructors’ Technical Group, suspended three match officials, Phanuel Omire, Samuel Kuria and Edwin Bobiya.
On their X platform, they wrote: “The FKF Referees Committee, in conjunction with the Instructors’ Technical Group, has taken disciplinary action against 3 match officials, i.e Phanuel Omire, Samuel Kuria & Edwin Bobiya following a review of recent SportPesa League fixtures.”
The federation said that following a performance review arising from recent FKF Premier League fixtures and the decisions were reached during a virtual meeting held on Thursday, 30 April, after the committee assessed match footage, referees’ reports, observations from match commissioners and technical evaluations concerning officiating standards in the top flight.
As a result, Omire has been suspended for three match rounds and further demoted to the National Super League, Kuria and Bobiya have each been suspended for two match rounds and similarly demoted to the second-tier league.
The sanctions are understood to stem from the controversial FKF Premier League clash involving Gor Mahia and Bandari, which ended in a barren draw, a match that sparked sharp criticism from Gor Mahia officials over what they termed as inconsistent and unfair officiating.