Nyangi: Powerful forces are seeking to block my candidature in Gor Mahia polls
Gor Mahia elections slated for August 8 are in jeopardy after one of the aspirants promised to move to the Sports Dispute Tribunal and the office of registrar to challenge the exercise citing unfairness and witch hunt.
Outgoing Organising Secretary Judith ‘Nyangi’ Anyango has said she will lodge her complaint with the registrar over the use of new constitution in the elections.
DEGREE HOLDERS
Anyango is accusing a section of the club leadership of plotting to bar her for contesting with the introduction of a clause that requires all contestants to be degree holders.
Anyango, who is a diploma holder, is interested in running for the position of honorary treasurer.
She says she is the frontrunner in the race for the post but claims some powerful individuals have fronted another candidate because they feel threatened by her presence at the club.
“I will register my complaints with the registrar of Sports on Monday then launch my reservation on the exercise through the Sports Dispute Tribunal. They are fighting me but I’m ready to take on my detractors. The fans who are registered members are with me in this,” said Anyango.
She claims that the constitution was passed by some people within the club who are determined to lock her out of the race on the pretext that she doesn’t have a degree.
DIVIDED OPINION
The issue has divided K’Ogalo fans with some vouching for Nyangi’s candidature while others insisting the degree qualification has to be met by all aspirants for the club to be run professionally.
At the same time, former Gor Mahia chairman Erastus Okul has waded into the debate on the forthcoming club polls, saying club chairman Ambrose Rachier should not run for another term in office.
Okul who handed the mantle to Rachier in 2009, says it is time another individual takes over since Rachier has done enough and achieved a lot at the club during the 11 years he has led the club.
“I am advising Rachier to leave Gor Mahia and hand leadership to a younger generation. He has won titles and stabilized the team. This notion that the club cannot survive without him is scaring people from going for the position,” Okul told Nairobi News from his home in Kendu Bay, Homa Bay County.
Rachier has already announced his intention to defend his post and recently said it would not be fair for him to leave the club before it becomes financially stable.
RACHIER’S TENURE
During his tenure in office, the club has won six Kenyan Premier League titles – excluding this season.
The 71-year-old Okul, who also served as Kenyan Premier League chairman, also dismissed the possession of a university degree as a condition for every aspirant to vie for the four post up for grabs.
“The issue of degree doesn’t apply in club leadership and should be struck out. Why was the constitution passed without our input as individuals who served the club in the past? Any person interested in a post should be allowed to vie and the club members should be allowed to elect a leader of their choice,” he added.
He also asked the club leadership to consider postponing the exercise to give all members the opportunity to participate because of the current state of coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, an electoral board led by chairman Henry Ogoye Kowero, a manager at Kenya Ports Authority, Kennedy Mbara, an advocate who will also serve as secretary general, and Council of Gor Mahia branches chairman Carilus Onyango has been put in place to oversee the polls.
The board has also announced that those who would like to participate in the election have until Monday midnight to register as members.