Selfish Interest Rocks Gor Mahia As Treasurer Pens Alarming Letter

Gor Mahia treasurer Dolphina Odhiambo has revealed showdy deals in the club’s Executive Committee in the wake of K’Ogalo’s expulsion from the 2023/24 CAF Champions League.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) last Friday slammed the door against the FKF Premier League champions in elite, lucrative continental club competition over debts owed to foreign players and a coach.

In 2021, Ugandan Shafik Batambuze, Dickson Ambundo from Tanzania, and coach Steven Polack took Gor Mahia to FIFA over their pending salaries and the Kenyan giants were  banned from bringing in new faces until they fully settled the trio financially.

However, K’Ogalo defied the order, went on to make new signings before clearing with the players and FIFA. The new signings featured in the Super Cup against Tusker FC in 2021, attracting the wrath of FIFA against the club.

“The club Gor Mahia is found responsible for failing to comply with a FIFA decision,” read a letter from FIFA. 

“The club Gor Mahia is banned from registering new players for two entire and consecutive registration periods as from the date of notification of the present decision.” FIFA continued.

On July 21, 2023, Gor Mahia were expelled from the CAF Champions League for breaching player contract terms. The African football governing body  revoked Gor Mahia’s club licensing certificate after the club failed to honour payment agreements with three former players from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mali.

It has now emerged that these costly foreign signings are forced by a section of Gor Mahia’s Executive Committee members with laced individual interests.

Club treasurer Dolphina Odhiambo in her detailed letter on Friday said she was sidelined in the process of signing foreign players at the club, a selfish plan that has backfired and plunged the side into turmoil, denying them slot in CAF Champions League.

“Sometimes back in 2021, I raised serious concerns with effect to signing some foreigners whose qualities and transfer fees were questionable and which was never a priority at that moment. My other colleagues at the Executive Committee of the club sidelined me, never to invite me to any other EC meeting to date and made changes to the club’s account with the ultimate goal of locking me out of my mandate as the duly elected treasurer of the club,” Dolphina Odhiambo revealed.

“It is shameful to learn that after all those forced signings that they did, that were laced with individual interests among some of the EC, the said players were never paid what they signed for in their contracts, forcing them to move to CAF and FIFA to demand for their payments from the club. The end result of me being sidelined rendered me an absentee on part of the club’s financial management ever since,” she continued.

She went ahead and wondered why the club spends million of shillings in signing foreign players whose qualities are questionable and end up warming the bench after sealing the expensive deals.

However, speaking to the Nairobian earlier this week, Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier said the club depends on YouTube videos and agents as the only convenient way in signing foreign players, thus denying them a chance for thorough securitization of player profile before signing for the club.

He said the club initially organized for a two-week close monitoring of their foreign players but the travel and accommodation costs became unbearable, forcing the side to rely on online platforms in their recruitment of foreign players. 

“There is no way we counter check because these people are usually brought to us by agents and most of the time YouTube videos are used. It is difficult because the videos are recorded deliberately, so you will not know if the person talking to you purports to know the player.”

Rachier also disclosed that Gor Mahia has slammed the door against foreign players until further notice.