Leading Gor Mahia FC presidential candidate, Dan Angila Oketch (Dan Wuod Ruoth Oketch), has opened up on his burning ambition to lead K’Ogalo to the promised land where success on and off the field reigns. In a candid interview with Soka25east.com, Dan touched on various subjects close to the Kenyan giant, while offering practical solutions aimed at making the club greater and fully professional.

The forth coming polls have attracted three candidates so far, including; Dr Eric Adede who finished second behind the incumbent Ambrose Rachier in the last elections, and former Secretary General Chris Omondi.

The three hours interview saw the soft spoken father of two who works as head of procurement in a leading financial institution in Nairobi, pour out his convictions on how he wants to harness the good will the club enjoys to transform it into self sustaining entity, which does not rely on handouts to finance it’s operations.

Soka25east.com – What makes you the best candidate to succeed Mr. Rachier?

Dan – I am the best candidate to replace Ambrose Rachier. One, because I have the club at heart and I understand what ails the club having been there in the thick of things since 2009; we need a Chairman who understands that Gor Mahia,with a fanatical fan base, doesn’t need to beg for donations from politicians.

We need a Gor Mahia that believes in itself and takes very strict and deliberate measures to create income. Football is business.

With all due respect to the current office; intentionally avoiding cashless gate management for political expediency is the worst way to run a big club with such a rich history.
I have been with Gor Mahia for a long time as a fan and as a supporter. I fully understand and appreciate the challenges and needs of the club as well as the aspirations and ambitions of our loyal fans. Coupled with my professional background and vast experience as a businessman, I believe that I have the right ingredients, the right contacts and obviously the best qualifications to move Gor Mahia to the next level.

Soka25east.com – What are your short and long term plans for the club?

Dan – In the long run, what we want to achieve is both success and progress on and off the pitch. Ever since inception, our focus has been on success on the pitch. We have completely ignored the very important aspects of progress and development. We still have the same problems we had in 1968. Unpaid allowances and salaries, lack of proper management structures, lack of accountability, mismanaged revenue, lack of training facilities… We want to fix all these.
In the short term we want to attract meaningful corporate partnerships by fixing the image of our club. We want to have an ultra modern office for the club. We want to stabilize our playing unit and technical bench by renegotiating the contracts we have in place. Every player will have medical insurance. We want to streamline ticket sales to improve match day revenues. We also want to streamline merchandising revenue and make sure the club earns meaningful revenue from the same. We want to bring in more supporters through a massive countrywide recruitment.

In the long term we want to develop our own infrastructure. We plan to build a convention center with a 50,000 capacity stadium, a conference facility, a club house, a museum and shops for the club and for other users. We shall engage in a joint venture with the corporate world to finance the project. 50% of costing and negotiations with potential partners from South Africa already done.This would roll out in January 2017.

We have plans to set up a youth system from Under 21 all the way down to U13s. The youth is the future of football. We want to shift from buying expensive talent to developing our own talent. Additionally we can also sell some of these players locally and abroad to generate more revenue.

Soka25east.com – What happens if the the current sponsorship deal comes to an end or is terminated?

Dan – To a club like Gor mahia, money from sponsorship should be just part of the supplementary income and not the life line. There are so many other viable income streams that we can and will explore when I am chairman to ensure that we as a club can comfortably meet our financial obligations.

Gate collections should hit over 40 million annually (average of Kshs. 3 million for the 15 home games if properly managed. Merchandise sales alone can give us a cool Kshs. 50 million annually if we maximize on its potential to include sale of jerseys, caps, water, pens and other branded stuff; this translates to 90 million gross before factoring the membership drive. Such a drive when anchored on performance by the service providers should yield more than Kshs.100 million annually.

Soka25east.com – How do you intend to improve flow of information in the club?

Dan – Poor communication has time and again been blamed on the rise in tension among fans, especially during tough times, leading to acts of hooliganism as a way of venting anger. Under my watch, a communication department will be set up, which will including the already existing website team. Their work will be timely dissemination of information on the ongoings in the club to kill rumors, live text and video streaming of matches, to ensure those not in the field can also follow our matches.

Soka25east.com – What will be your players transfer policy?

Dan – I know most of our players prefer six months or one year contracts; we must however tie our players to sensible contracts. The trick is making it attractive enough to be able to deliver a win –win situation for all parties. We shall also re – evaluate how our player recruitment policy so that we bring in players who will improve the squad and not just add up numbers.
The club already has the name to attract the best players, let us affirm this by being a financial powerhouse too. The rest shall fall in place.

Soka25east.com – How do you intend to handle Gor Mahia politics?
Dan – A political position comes with lots of challenges. First it is not obvious that the candidate with the best ideas carries the day.

After winning, another challenge is bringing on board those who didn’t vote for you.
I intend to create a good working relationship with all stakeholders. Constant dialogue and open door policy will be my style. We shall involve fans through branch representatives as much as we can so that at all times the interests of the club come before everything else. This way we can avoid a lot of friction and tension that sometimes arise out of breakdown in communication.
The best thing for such a sensitive position is to keep telling the truth so that you don’t need many explanations in future. Especially being very honest on what you believe you can achieve.

I conclude by condemning the acts of hooliganism meted on Gor Mahia officials on Saturday. We have to be civilized in the way we vent when the team does not win. Even the best teams in the world are at times surprised with home losses.

@bonfaceosano

Bonface Osano

African Football Writer contributing @Soka25east | Commentator; appeared on @MySoccerAfrica, @KweseSports, @ntvkenya, others | Keen follower of African Football. E-mail: bonfaceosano@gmail.com