D-Day for Gor Mahia as they elect new boss

Three men are contesting for the position of Gor Mahia chairman in club elections that will be held on Sunday at Safaricom Stadium, Kasarani.

Incumbent Ambrose Rachier will square off with Dan Oketch and Chris Omondi for the top seat, in what is expected to be a tightly contested race for the mandate to lead Kenya’s most successful football club for the next three years. The trio expressed confidence in clinching victory, even as Oketch and Omondi complained of participating in “a flawed exercise”.

Rachier, a lawyer, who has been at the helm of the club for the last seven years, said his next priority upon re-election was to transform the team into continental giants.

“We are pleased and satisfied with the progress attained during my tenure. We now have an up and running secretariat, there is a team a bus, its also crucial to note that we now have a stable means of income through sponsorship and gate earnings, and our first team and youth sides have consistently won titles in Kenya,” said Rachier.

Oketch has promised to come up with a frame work that would double the club’s annual income to Sh250 million.

The 36-year-old father of two boys is considered as the strongest challenger to Rachier’s reign. A procurement manager by professional, Oketch has been a die hard fan of K’Ogalo for the past decade.

He said: “It’s easy. We will map out a program to have millions of supporters to register as members at a fee.

'EASILY RASIE SH200M'

“And then, there is the sale of merchandise, we can contract big shops in each of the major towns like Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa, and even in the diaspora. We can easily raise up to Sh200 million.”

Oketch said he will make the club financially self reliant and professionally run. He promise to fight hooliganism through employment of community policing with help from Government.

Gor Mahia currently rake in an estimated annual income of Sh120 million, realized through sponsorship arrangements with sponsors SportPesa and Crown beverages Limited, as well as sale of merchandise and from gate collections.

Omondi has promised to put structures that will enable the club to grow bigger and more popular.

Omondi, a senior immigration official, resigned as club secretary general in 2014, a year after he was elected. He has been actively involved in managing the club’s youth teams.

“I want to transform the National Executive Committee into a supervisory and policy making organ.”

I will also move the club to a self sustainable institution as I considerable invest in the youth. The challenge is that there has already been electoral fraud and the process might not be free and fair as things stand.”

Twenty-six aspirants have been cleared by the club’s Electoral Board to contest for the 11 elective seats of the club’s national executive committee.

Besides the chairmanship, other posts up for grabs are senior vice chairman, first vice chairman, second vice chairman and secretary general.

The rest are deputy secretary general, assistant deputy secretary general, treasurer, assistant treasurer, organizing secretary and assistant organizing secretary.

The long-delayed elections were originally scheduled for last November.