18 January 2005	Tuesday	07 Zilhaj 1425

NAIROBI, Jan 17: Kenya's cricket crisis deepened on Monday when members of an interim committee appointed to replace the sport's sacked governing board accused their predecessors of a lock out.

At the same time, the former chief of the Kenya Cricket Association (KCA), who was fired last week along with the rest of the panel over mismanagement charges, said he and his colleagues did not recognize their dismissal.

The interim committee, named Friday after Kenya's sports minister dissolved the KCA, complained it has not been able to get into the association's office in Nairobi's Ruaraka suburb because the locks have been changed.

"We have not been able to get access to our offices at Ruaraka," said Sammy Obingo, a member of the 11-strong committee appointed by the government to run the KCA pending fresh elections in April.

"The doors have been closed using new locks," he said. The head of the disbanded KCA, Sharad Ghai, meanwhile, is refusing to recognize the interim panel's legitimacy, maintaining that the old governing body had not been informed about the change.

"KCA is still in office until we are informed otherwise," Ghai said. "We are waiting to meet the sports minister on Wednesday or Thursday to clear the air on the issue."

Kenyan Sports Minister Ochilo Ayacko announced the sacking of the KCA on Friday, accusing the board of financial mismanagement, failing to resolve a long-standing feud with national team players and being too slow in drawing up a new constitution. -AFP