GOR MAHIA’S GLORIOUS SEASON!

It was billed as the title decider! The most important game for the front-runners for the 2013 Kenya Premier League, Gor Mahia and Sofapaka. The match that was to decide if the green army won their first title in 18 years, or whether Sofapaka, popular as Batoto Ba Mungu clinched their second title since their promotion to the Kenyan top-flight soccer in 2009.

After a grueling 90 minutes at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Ugandan hitman, Dan Sserunkuma earned Gor Mahia a 1-0 victory over a wasteful Sofapaka side. This is the goal that effectively ended K’Ogallo’s 18-year old wait for the league crown. It also ensured that the green army faithful earned the bragging rights over ther arch-rivals, AFC Leopards.

Last season’s painful memories of a last-day title loss to Tusker Fc, had been the nightmare to every green army follower. The agonizing day at Nairobi’s City Stadium, when Thika United denied Gor Mahia the premiership crown that every fan believed that it was theirs to lose. However, as many K’Ogallo fans decried, the football gods had conspired with fate to deny Gor Mahia football’s bragging rights.

With three matches to go, Gor Mahia has all but sealed the 2013 premiership title, leaving their mashemejis, AFC Leopards and Sofapaka to fight for the second spot. Even sweeter is that, Gor Mahia will fly Kenya’s flag in next year’s CAF Champions League; the sweet taste of Africa’s premier club competition! The ever optimistic K’Ogallo fans are crossing their fingers and hoping that this will be another 1989 when, a Peter Daw’o led-Gor Mahia, won the Mandela Cup and etched their name into the continent’s history books; the first club from East and Central Africa to win a continental title. However, this is all history and Gor Mahia has a chance to lock horn with the likes of Al Ahly, Orlando Pirates and Esperance, among other giants of African club football.

As a football loving nation, we hope that the current Gor Mahia side, that has been the most consistent for the past three seasons will give us something to smile about, when club continental soccer kicks off next year. 

THE HARROWING HAGUE HALLOWEEN!

The harsh reality has slowly but surely sank into the hearts of the entire nation. Our sitting president, Honorable Uhuru Kenyatta is awaiting the commencement of his trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, in November. But is this the cup of tea that the nation envisaged in late 2008,when the then ICC Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo declared that he was to use the Kenyan case as an example that crimes against humanity have no place in the society? My crystal ball tells me, NO!

After the infamous Waki envelope that was handed to former United Nations Chief, Koffi Annan, notable efforts were made to establish a local tribunal to try the suspects and ensure that the cases did not end up in the corridors of The Hague, as is the case now. The Late Makueni senator and former Constitutional Affairs minister, Mutula Kilonzo, former Gichugu legislator, Martha Karua and Honorable Gitobu Imanyara, all saw their efforts viciously quashed at the floor of the 10^th House. At that time, the deliberate decibels of ‘Let us not be vague, let us go to The Hague’ reverberated across the entire country.  Most of the politicians argued that The Hague process was the only avenue through which victims of the 07-08 blood-letting would get justice.

Almost five years down the line, the harsh reality of The Hague process has set in and the same politicians, who had the golden chance to save the country and the suspects from trial at The Hague, are screaming loudest, with all manner of deliberate untruths and outright lies. The ICC has suddenly turned into a political axis, heel-bend on settling political scores, depending on which side of the political arena one has taken. To others, it is the deliberate and devil plan of the western powers to rule over Kenya. To others, it is our sovereignty that we are losing to the west! All manner of arguments rent the air. Rightfully so, it is country with a constitution that greatly safeguards the freedom of expression and opinion opinions, thus all opinions are correct and must be accommodated.

However, when we all soberly sit and look back, we must accept that the 10^th parliament and politicians failed to set up a local tribunal and hence invited The ICC into the country. So our sovereignty is not on trial. Had a local tribunal been set up, then our duly elected president and his deputy, alongside journalist, Joshua arap Sang’ would not be at the Hague. As a country, we must accept this failure and bemoan the fact that the parliament unanimously voted to take H.E Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy Honorable William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang’ to The Hague. Our politicians failed, the parliament failed and the entire nation failed. Our politicians should stop pretending to mourn alongside the president and his deputy and instead swallow the bitter pill; that they failed in setting up a local tribunal that could have averted The Hague reality check.

The greatest regret is that our duly elected president and his deputy are facing trial in a foreign land. This is scenario that we could have avoided had we not done unnecessary politics. The Hague was sure to happen and our politicians should have known better.

It is not Uhuru Kenyatta on trial, but the duly elected head of Kenya is at The Hague.  It is not William Ruto on trial at The Hague, but it is the duly elected deputy president of the Republic of Kenya. This is the harsh reality that we must bemoan and accept as a nation.  Remember that, they have great constitutional responsibilities to dispense as the two most powerful men on the land.

COLOR-CAMOUFLAGED STARS!

Any keen Kenyan who religiously follows our heart-breaking Harambee Stars must have noticed that the team lacks consistency in their colors.  We must accept it that indeed any fan of HarambeeStars must always break his head in the quest to get the latest colors of our Harambee Stars. The Samba Boys of Brazil, Argentina and even closer home, Nigeria’s Super Eagles and Indomitable Lions of Cameroun, have traditionally maintained their colors and designs. Harambee Stars change theirs almost at every game! 

For example, in the just-ended dismal campaign for Brazil 2014, Stars donned at least four different colors and designs, sadly, somewhere awfully copied designs of European clubs. This begs the question, is it that kit designers are scrambling to kit our national soccer team or is it that someone somewhere is making a kill out of this whole issue? My crystal ball tells me that the latter is what happens, for the two simple reasons. One, Harambee Stars are one of the biggest disappointments that we have had to endure for as long as we can remember. Secondly, the poorly designed kits, that are outright copycats of some European clubs, cannot be the work of any serious kit designer, like Adidas, Nike, Puma or even Kelme, whose logo dominantly feature on the Harambee Stars kits.

We all remember the baggy jerseys that Harambee Stars donned in the return match against Nigeria, in the qualification for Brazil 2014. Needless to say, theses jerseys were exact replicas for the 2013-14 season that Manchester United is donning. The only difference was the Kelme and Football Kenya Football, FKF logos and of course the big Kenyan name that was inscribed on them.

In every continental and regional engagement, our Harambee Stars somehow bolt out of the dressing rooms in new kits! Just as the un-rivaled turnovers in coaches, the kits are equally different. The inconsistency with which Harambee Stars change their kits simply baffles everyone. A phenomenon that must be turning all big teams turn green with envy, only if it was that great!

THE KENYAN POLITICIAN!

Just as the elections draw near, so does he draw ever so close to the ordinary mwananchi. This is the time when wanjiku walks hand in hand with the magical politician, and the ever canniving politician listens to the plight that wanjiku faces everyday, as she wakes up early and goes to bed late. Politicians, who spent their entire four-year terms far away in the comfy of their posh and lavish homes in Nairobi, interestingly troop to their constituents villages it is the vote-hunting season!

Their campaign teams turn the villages and city estates into shouting matches, all in the name of selling their manifestos to the electorate.  They turn our dusty football pitches into political arenas. Their helicopters blow dust into our weary eyes and their campaign entourages fill our already filled roads, in our cities and in the villages. The huge public address systems atop their campaign vehicles almost blow our ears and fill the air with all manners of noise; all in the name of campaigning.

They spent months with their constituents, far away in the dusty villages, away from the comfort of their lavish city homes. They religiously make Sunday masses their most favorite past times. They take part in all village events from funerals to fund-raising proceedings. The politician is ever close to the very people who elected him to the five years around the trappings of power.

They drop their mheshimiwa tag and freely mix with the constituents. The very government that they owe allegiance to suddenly stands at the accused corner.  It is accused of non-performance and renegading on its promises to the country’s patriotic voters! But wait a minute! It is the vote hunting season and the politician is just doing all it to endear himself to the hearts of the electorate and secure another five years in power!

The election bells are rigging and the politician must secure another five years in power. Sweet and alluring trappings of power!