A Kenyan court on Thursday ordered members of the national athletics governing body to vacate office after serving for eight years without holding elections.
The court ruling follows a petition lodged by ten former international athletes led by two-time Boston marathon champion Moses Tanui in 2016 asking Athletics Kenya (AK) to amend its constitution to allow sportspeople to serve on the body.
Nairobi High Court Judge Lawrence Mugambi delivered the ruling which brings to an end a lengthy legal saga which prevented the athletics body from holding elections.
"The officials and Executive Committee of the 1st respondent (Athletics Kenya) who have been in office for a cumulative period of 8 years... have served their terms in full and must forthwith vacate office," the judgement seen by AFP said.
Ineligible
"They shall be ineligible to contest for any position in the organisation."
The board has been led by retired army general Jackson Tuwei who took over the reins when former long-serving president Isaiah Kiplagat was suspended over graft allegations in 2015.
Tuwei was elected as one of four vice-presidents of World Athletics (WA) last August.
The court directed Tuwei to review AK's constitution within the next 90 days, "for purposes of enhancing inclusivity (and) democratic representation of various players in the athletics discipline into the 1st Respondent's top decision-making organ and to guarantee enhanced transparency."
Protests
In November 2015, protesting Kenyan athletes stormed the AK headquarters in Nairobi, locking out officials and demanding that top bosses step down following allegations of graft and doping cover-ups.
Kenya, which boasts some of the world's finest middle and long-distance runners, has in recent years been rocked by a spate of failed drug tests.
The sport has also been reeling from the loss of world marathon record-holder Kelvin Kiptum, a 24-year-old father of two, after he was killed in a late-night car crash last month.
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