Gor Mahia players paid Sh3,000 as March salary
Gor Mahia management has backtracked and said all monies paid to players during this difficult period will not be deducted from their salaries when normalcy returns.
This comes after players were angered by the Sh3,000 payment they received from the club as salary on March 27.
The club has also announced and promised that the players will receive their full salary next week.
Speaking on the issue, Gor Mahia Team Manager Jolawi Obondo who said he had the blessing of Chairman Ambrose Rachier told Nation Sport that they have decided not to deduct the Sh3,000 and other ‘small’ monies from what is to be paid to the players next week.
Obondo also clarified that the Sh3,000 was not a salary as the players believed but a token to cushion them during this difficult period when coronavirus pandemic continues to be a threat to the economic stability of the country.
“The issue of Sh3,000 has caused a lot of divisions and is now being used by some individuals to fight the chairman. The true position is that the money was just a token to help them buy food and not a salary. This issue has caused us a lot of bashing from those opposing leadership at the club with all sort of bad things being said,” said Obondo.
He clarified that, in the past, the club has always asked players to sign a register whenever the money paid to them is to be deducted from their salaries later.
“We paid them a token of Sh10,000 after Mashemeji Derby but they were all quiet. Before we had also been giving them something. Why then lament on the Sh3,000 yet it took the Chairman a lot of effort to get this money after they had asked us to find them something small?” posed Obondo.
He, however, insisted that they are aware of the tough circumstances the players have been undergoing lately but promised them a bright future.
Obondo also took issue with some players for running to the media with the intention of getting the money from augmentin fund, a fans financial initiative formed earlier in the year.
Augmentin official Sam Muga had earlier said the Nation Executive Committee members would be meeting on April 1 to decide on the whether to release the amount he said is less than Sh200,000 to players or not.
Gor and other teams participating in the Kenyan Premier League have not been playing since the league was suspended due to the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
K’Ogalo are top of the KPL log on 54 points, seven above second-placed Kakamega Homeboyz with 10 matches to the end of the 2019/20 season.