Gogo Boys football club are raising a red flag over alleged match fixing in Football Kenya Federation (FKF) run Nairobi West Maisha County League.
The Vice Chairman of the Kibra based outfit Mr. Mustafa Nassur, has cited two incidences in which his team was “robbed of victories” by clubs “related” to FKF officials – saying the trend runs deep, and their plight is just a tip of the iceberg.
“It’s some form of match fixing in which clubs owned by FKF officials (for example branch chairman Mr. Bashar Hussein owns AS Swafaa FC) use underhand tactics to make sure they get free points while playing at home,” Nasssur said.
He gives example of their fixture against KYSA Karengata FC at Cooperative Universisty Grounds, Karen, on May 1,2016 in which they were awarded a walker over, after the hosts failed to show-up, only for the decision to be reversed two days later when official results were published.
“One tactic they use is, they give a fixture on Wednesday detailing match day and time, then come Friday, or Saturday they make amendments without informing the visiting team. For example, they change kick-off time, so at times a team arrives early or late only to find that a walkover has been awarded,” He explained.
Another tactic he says is biased officiating, “A game of football should have at least four officials (center referee, two linesmen and a fourth official), but we have played games with just center referee and in most cases the ref is openly biased towards the home team which is usually related to the office,” Nassur stated.
“Most recently in our match against Kuwinda FC in Karen, we had two goals disallowed simply because there were no linesmen. He had even recorded one goal only to cancel it. Our players were infuriated and the match was abandoned in the 78th minute,” Nassur said.
The match was later awarded to their opponent- a move they don’t dispute, but what irks them most is that their Coach Benjamin Kipruto and Captain Yassin Bwire were subsequently banned from any football related activities for one year each.
“It’s so unfortunate we are being frustrated by individuals who have selfish interests and want to run the Nairobi County League in unprofessional manner. How does one ban a young aspiring footballer for a whole year?” He posed.
Efforts to get justice from relevant authorities of the league he holds is a fruitless endeavor as disputes takes ages to be resolved and judgements are more often than not delivered without hearing both parties.
Nassur can’t tell their current position on the log as the last updated standings was released three weeks ago when they were 5th.
Nairobi West County League branch Secretary General Caleb Malweyi, has however denied all the accusations, questioning why Gogo Boys had to leave the match venue an hour to kick-off.
“It’s all lies, Gogo Boys left the match venue even before match officials arrived. We want teams to compete and not walkovers being dished out,” Malweyi said.
Malweyi further clarified that FKF officials no longer own clubs in the league and hence no conflict of interest, “It was a requirement before elections that to be a candidate you must have been active in football management at club level or elsewhere but they no longer hold positions in clubs.”
Kuwinda FC is associated with Assistant Secretary General Fredrick Mboya as chairman while Uweza FC is linked with Charles Kaindi also an official of the body.
The Secretary General added that they always have their officials on the ground and any action they take is based on officials’ report, and they have all the records.
With 14 matches to go, five teams have already been relegated from the league for nonpayment of registration fee.
“We met with the clubs and agreed we cannot go on with if they won’t pay affiliation, and that’s the truth.” Malweyi admitted.
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