GOR Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier will run in the August 13 elections for the man to head the national football association, with a call to leaders of all Kenyan clubs, down to the villages, to pick someone who knows the plight of clubs and players.
After earlier handing in his nomination papers to the Fifa-appointed Independent Electoral Board [IEB], Rachier quietly went about consulting chairmen, secretaries, coaches and team managers round the country, with a rallying call that “if we do not get it right, it is our clubs and players who will continue to suffer.”
This morning, the Gor Mahia chairman, holds a meeting with editors and leading football correspondents of media houses and new media, to brief them on what he called “an overwhelming desire by clubs in the country, down to the smallest, to be led by someone who has a firsthand knowledge about the situation in our clubs and our players.”
Rachier’s support to run for chairmanship of Kenyan football comes from a wide range of stake holders of the view that many people clamouring for the leadership were in it for the fame and trappings that come with the office.
“Talk to administrators of teams in the most far-flung parts of the country, in the lowest leagues, you will hear the plight of us long-suffering leaders of the football clubs. I am saying that we must now stand up and be counted and vote in a football administration that will work for the rights and development of our clubs and players.
“Our work, to keep our clubs afloat throughout the country has been back-breaking; every chairman, secretary, coach, team manager, etc, knows that. We are the ones that hurt when soccer is mismanaged. Now we have an opportunity to vote the right people to the top echelons of our game.”
Rachier’s campaign for a new dawn of Kenyan football has hit the road throughout the country, addressing the people who matter; administrators and owners of all clubs in the country. They will finally converge in Nairobi on Saturday, July 30 for a launch of the final drive towards the elections set by the IEB for August 13.
Meanwhile, the Movement for Political Accountability (MOPA) at the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AfriCOG), a citizens’ oriented social movement comprising organizations committed to empowering Kenyans to hold public leaders accountable is taking a keen interest in the forthcoming football elections.
MOPA and AfriCOG, said on Tuesday they shared deep interest in, and commitment to upholding principles of accountability in football affairs in Kenya.
They will, subsequently be organizing a National Grand Debate for all candidates cleared by the IEB to run for position of Chairperson of the Kenyan football association.
The debate, scheduled for Friday July 29 July at Strathmore University from 8.30am, aims to provide a platform for candidates to share their vision for Kenyan football with 200 key football stakeholders.
“In this way, we hope to contribute towards and enable the election into office qualified and credible leaders committed to principles of accountability, transparency and delivery of results to football stakeholders in Kenya,” the MOPA statement said.
All candidates, including incumbent Mohammed Hatimy, Rachier, Sam Nyamweya, Elizabeth Shako, Hussein Mohammed and Twaha Mbarak have been invited to take part.
“We believe that the current state of football nationally is symptomatic of an acute shortage of servant leadership and the pervasive culture of impunity as freedom from accountability,” said the MOPA statement.
“It is MOPA’s commitment to empowering, supporting and accompanying communities to demand accountability, and AfriCOG’s dedication to addressing structural causes of corruption and bad governance that informs our interest in football management in Kenya,” it concluded.
Among the invited audience to the debate are delegates from around the country including from Nationwide division I and II leagues.
Link to story: http://www.kpl.co.ke/articles.aspx?Id=426913
