Blunders that paid in kind against Chipolopolo!

Can Harambee Stars decry that the fans did not fill Nyayo Stadium on Saturday for their crunch African Nations Cup qualifier against Zambia’s Chipolopolo? Absolutely No! Is the nation fair in castigating Bobby Williamson and his charges for letting them down? Definitely Yes! 

On a sunny Sunday afternoon at Nyayo Stadium, Kenyans swathed in the national team colors and waving miniature flags started thronging the stadium as early as 2pm, two hours before the eagerly-anticipated match. About thirty minutes before the game, the stadium was already full to capacity as passionate Kenyans led by former Premier, Hon. Raila Odinga optimistically and patiently waited for a Kenyan win. When Southampton’s Victor Mugubi alongside Norway-based shot stopper, Arnold Origi led the Stars out for the warm up, our expectations nearly budged. A win was drawing closer!

Under 15 minutes, the red-hot Michael Olunga got at the end of a Dennis Odhiambo’s inviting cross and guided it past a hapless Kennedy Mweene in the Zambia goal! The stadium was sent into a delirium! Barely minutes later, pacey Paul Were hobbled off the pitch in obvious pain. The match was turned on its head! Tusker’s Noah Wafula, arguably the most disappointing man on the day come on. Stars were left with just the left flank functioning, as Ayub Timbe continued to impress. Noah Wafula never got into the game and perhaps is horrible dribbles, terrible decisions, missed chance and awful crossing in the second half epitomized our struggles.

Our twin strike-force of an aging and club-less Dennis Oliech and Olunga no longer functioned as the latter cut out the figure of an isolated one-man in the final third. As early as the first half, the rustiness and lack of fitness was showing all over Oliech. Jesse Were, the leading goal scorer in the 2015 KPL was meanwhile rotting on the bench, alongside Azam’s Allan Wanga. The two strikers had all reasons to start ahead of Oliech but somehow Bobby Williamson never saw this. Wanga’s late introduction for Oliech and Were’s non-appearance summed up a rather clueless technical bench led by Williamson.

In the central defence, Malaysia-based Lawrence Olum was the lost man. NO explanation can be offered why Al-Tawoon’s Dennis “Cheche” Ochieng never partnered Brian Mandela. At the heart of the midfield, Mugubi did not need another holding player in the mould of Collins Okoth but rather an attack minded midfielder like Johanna Omollo, who came on late in the second half. AFC Leopard’s Bernard Mangoli, one of the best central attacking midfielders could have helped a lot, or even Al-Khartoum’s Antony Akumu who was not even on the bench! Simply put, a chronology of mistakes on the pitch made Stars lose a game that they had already won in the first half! Olum, Oliech, Gatusso and Wafula were obvious mistakes on the pitch as were Omollo, Mang’oli and Were on the bench. 

Let us also not forget that word had it that some players broke rules and partied with girls days before the game. Weirdly, no disciplinary action was taken! The team was based in the noisy Nairobi West area even as a serene and tranquil environment lay idle at Safaricom Stadium Kasarani! But perhaps the biggest and obvious mistake was in the one-week residential camp that the team had while Chipolopolo spent more than a month in camp, preparing for the Nairobi clash. Yet we somehow expected to gel and create a winning team! Sterile imagination from Football Kenya Federation (FKF)! Apart from fans who perhaps believed it would be a routine victory at Nairobi, those in the inside circles at FKF, the Harambee Stars camp and attendants at the Mvuli Hotel in Nairobi West knew all along that nothing had been done right to prepare for such a crunch tie! We missed the opportunity to go top of our group, an opportunity that might come to haunt us when the rest of Africa lands in Libreville, Gabon for the 2017 continental showpiece!

As we agonize our very own failure that we confidently prepared, we should remember that “He who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly”.

THE JEWEL OF KIBERA

To many Kenyans, it is the famous Woodley Grounds, but to the residents of Kibra Constituency, it is fondly referred to Kalwa Grounds. It is the home of football in Nairobi; the ground that has given birth to current footballers. Current Tusker Fc skipper and Kenya Premier League top-scorer, Jesse Were, Mathare United coveted midfielder Edwin Lavatsa and others are its proud products!

However, despite the priceless contribution to Kenyan football, Woodley Grounds is shamefully dilapidated. From un-even playing surface, lack of grass to flooding whenever rains hit Nairobi, it is a sorry state, bare and dusty in the dry season to bare and muddy in the rains. Lack of a perimeter wall compounds an already dire situation.

As its dilapidation continues, the youths in Kibera are sharpening their skills from Monday to Friday. Over the weekends, it is soccer bonanza to the Kibera residents as clubs battle it out on the dusty pitch. The next crop of soccer stars from the likes of Black Stars, Uweza Academy, Kibera Talent and other clubs who call Woodley Grounds their home, horn their skills at this dilapidated field.

It is the sporting jewel of Kibera! The youths escape drugs abuse and crime by horning their soccer skills here. To the Kibera community, it is a priceless sporting gift. The onus is on the Nairobi County government and the central government to rehabilitate it to modern standards and make it even better for the many boys and girls who call it their sporting home!

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION IS PRICELESS!

As Kenya gears all her efforts in pursuit of the ambitious Vision 2030 and an upgrade from the class of third world, a pertinent question begs; are we putting enough efforts to conserve our bio-diversity and culture? Depending on where you sit, the answer is as diverse as the reality! 

For those in our Maasai, Turkana, Samburu and other communities whose great culture is still alive, the answer is yes! For our departed environmental champion Prof.  Wangari Maathai, leading elephant and wildlife conservationist,  Dr. Paula Kahumbu, the late Environmental minister, Hon John Michuki who is highly respected for the restoration efforts of Nairobi river, the answer is a resounding Yes! However, for the greedy poachers and the traders in the illegal trade of ivory, rhino horns, snake skins and the vicious destruction of Kenyan wildlife, it is a shameful No! They are shamefully threatening the lucrative tourism industry by decimating our great fauna in its numbers.  They must be reigned on before more destruction visits our flora and fauna.

In the face of such destruction of wildlife, pollution of our rivers and the destruction of forests cum water catchment points such as Mau forest in Rift Valley, Kenya must embrace the likes of Paula Kahumbu, the late Prof Maathai, the late Hon Michuki and others who led the conservation of our flora and fauna. Environmental conservation needs us all.

It is never late to embrace environmental conservation, for the repercussions of its mother nature are dire!

GOR MAHIA, TRULY A GREAT SHOWING IN CECAFA!

After a fairytale run in this year’s edition of the CECAFA Club Championship in Tanzania, Gor Mahia, jetted back into the country on Monday night, heads held high but crest-fallen! The Green Army must hold its held high as it ran against all odds, went past the preliminary stage and all the way to the final, where they fell to a more polished Azam side! Un-expected performance by Frank Nuttal’s charges as few except themselves gave them a chance to put up such a sterling show. Remember, last year, Gor Mahia could not even win a single match and unceremoniously bowed out in the group stage. However, in the just concluded regional club tourney, Gor Mahia nearly did it! Losing gallantly in the final is no mean achievement! Gor Mahia deserves all accolades in Kenya, even from their sworn rivals in the Ingw’e den!

Frank Nuttal’s boys must be crest-fallen because they slipped in the last hurdle. From dismissing home club with a near-fanatical following; Yanga in their opening match, K’Ogallo simply steadied its ship and convincingly swept aside opponents as they matched to yesterday’s final. A polished Azam side, under the tutelage of the respected Stuart Hall, backed by the vociferous home crowd inside the National Stadium, simply took its chances, through talismanic skipper John Bocco in the first half and midway through the second half, after a sublime curling free-kick from Ivory Coast import, Tchetche.  The second goal simply took the gas out of Gor Mahia and despite trying their best, the likes of Michael Olunga, Godfrey Walusimbi, Meddie Kagere and Innocent Wafula could not find the target! 

Since 1985 when Gor Mahia defeated their local rivals, AFC Leopards to lift a sixth regional diadem in Sudan, the wait has been long and painful! Even sad is the fact that K’Ogallo has dominated Kenyan football for the last three years, lifted the Kenya Premier League (KPL) twice in 2013 and 2014, and are poised to do it this year, but have failed to take this scintillating form to the regional tourney! Yesterday, was a glorious chance for The Green Army to lift the CECAFA Club diadem for the seventh time. However, it was not to be after falling to Azam Fc, and the Green Army family will have to wait longer!

Losing in the final is heartbreaking. It hits hard on the faithful club supporters and Jaro Soldier and his ilk must be mourning on the final that fate and footballing gods conspired to deny them! But it is even harder on the players. The fa t that Gor Mahia nearly won it but lost in the most important 90 minutes in Tanzania, must have broken the hearts of the committed Green Army players! But with the great hearts that pushed them from the whipping dogs of CECAFA Club 2014 to the losing finalists a year later, will surely lift them up. Back home, Gor Mahia’s unbeaten 25-match run is no fluke. The team chemistry and understanding that this team has put on in the local scene is un-matched, from rivals Ingw’e to big boys like Tusker Fc, military side, Ulinzi Stars and Sofapaka, no one matches Gor Mahia. Still perched on top of the league with three matches in hand, K’Ogallo is all but poised to defend its KPL crown! This will be a third time running!!!

Back from Tanzania, Gor Mahia will jet in with the painful consolation of a runners-up medal. But their talismanic goal-poacher, Michael Olunga won the Golden boot with five goals and even three assists to boot! Shot-stopper, Boniface Oluoch, despite being guilty of easily conceding the second goal in yesterday’s final, won the Golden Gloves prize! Good bits of consolation to The Green Army for their near-flawless football in Tanzania and a performance that was only blotted in a nail-biting finale against home-boys, Azam! The Green Army may have lost in the final but won in many other ways, psychologically, against football pessimists and in Olunga and Oluoch! 

Gor Mahia have in the past years made the top flight Kenyan soccer their own, and two consecutive crowns are a proof! They are on course to defend the KPL crown this year! To add to the cherry, they came second best in the entire Eastern and Central region in the just-concluded CECAFA! The Green Army has earned all bragging rights in Kenya and across the region! Truly, the Kenyan football tiktetas

When power hovered in the skies of Nairobi and The Beast drove on City Roads…

The first ever visit to Kenya by a sitting POTUS shifted global attention to Nairobi! International media had their noses and ears in Nairobi. As President Obama jetted in to address the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) and hold high level talks with his host President Uhuru Kenyatta, one thing stood out; the might of the power trappings and security detail around POTUS brought Nairobi to a standstill!

When Boeing Bell V-22 military choppers and Marine One hovered over the Nairobi skies, landed at Kenyatta University and later University of Nairobi grounds, Kenyans were left in awe! Yes, the Nairobi skies suddenly grabbed a nation’s attention. The social media was awash with pictures of these majestic show of power that form part of the security detail to the POTUS! Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Wilson Airport had the privilege of having these intimidating flying machines on their runaways!

City roads such as Mombasa road, Uhuru and Waiyaki highways among other roads too have had the unrivalled honor of feeling the armored Cadillac, popularly known as The Beast, its decoy car and the huge convoy of Chevrolet machines that POTUS uses on the road! The lucky petrol station attendants at Shell BP in Westlands enjoyed every minute of fuelling these giant machines! As they described them, these majestically moving ‘super machines’ simply epitomize the pinnacle of political power and especially so from the world’s undisputed socio-political and economic superpower!Marine One, Boeing V-22 military helicopters, The Beast and the super machines at the service of POTUS visited Nairobi. They hovered over the Nairobi skies, drove on our roads and left Kenyans awe-struck! President Obama’s motorcade brought the streets and roads of Nairobi to a standstill. Kenyans and journalists never hid their amazement and excitement each time POTUS was being driven by. 

To the students at University of Nairobi, Kenyatta University and all Kenyans who had the privilege of coming several metres to the machines that ensure President Obama’s top-notch security, the moments will never go away! To Ms. June Muli, head of Customer Care at M-Kopa and other Kenyans at Kenyatta University and Safaricom Indoor Arena who had the once in a life-time moment of rubbing shoulders warmly with a sitting POTUS, President Obama’s weekend stay in Kenya was simply awesome!  But perhaps a Kenyan who drew the nation’s awe was President Obama’s sister, Auma Obama! She welcomed her brother at JKIA on Friday night and rode in the Beast, next to POTUS! The envy of all Kenyans! She accompanied him to the State House dinner on Saturday night and also welcomed him at Safaricom Indoor Arena on Sunday! The humble ride in a faulty Volkswagen Bettle in 2006 had turned into a ride in The Beast, nine years down the line! President Obama’s visit to Kenya will forever shine in the annals of history and so will Auma Obama’s moments with him!

From Mombasa Road on  a freezing Friday night,  the sunny Saturday morning at The Memorial Park, the sidelines of the GES at Gigiri, Kenyatta University and Safaricom Indoor Arena, Kenyans took every minute to catch a glimpse of President Obama and the trappings of power in the air and on the road that surrounded him! Even on the Saturday afternoon when local and international journalists went to State House for the joint press briefing from President Obama and his host, President Uhuru, it was the great moment as Kenyan journalists even had the opportunity to pose questions to President Obama! To our men and women of the Kenya Defence Forces who mounted a guard of honour for President Obama, it never gets this prestigious and befitting in one’s military career!

Yes, President Obama came calling and the hysterical excitement by Kenyans was justifiable! The first ever visit by a sitting POTUS to Kenya deserved every minute of a nation’s attention! From Friday night to Sunday evening when he finally boarded the Air Force One en-route to Addis Ababa for the African Union (AU) Summit, President Obama had enjoyed every minute being in his father’s homeland!

The very Illinois Senator that Kenya barely paid attention to in 2006, has an entire nation paying homage as he returned in  a different hat; the President of the World’s military and economic superpower!