Gor Mahia elections postponed after clashes

Ambrose Rachier at a past meeting. PHOTO | CHRIS OMOLLO | FILE

What you need to know:

  • The event turned chaotic after five hours of restlessness
  • The turn of events left the retuning officer Jackson Ndakwa with no choice but to call off the exercise

The much anticipated Gor Mahia polls that were to take place on Sunday did not materialize after trouble reared its ugly head.

The event turned chaotic after five hours of restlessness as the impatient crowd became unruly forcing police officers to lob tear gas canisters at them.

Choking from the gas fumes, the crowd ducked for cover with individuals running helter-skelter, halting a process that was intended to inject fresh blood into the club’s leadership.

The turn of events left the retuning officer Jackson Ndakwa with no choice but to call off the exercise. (READ: Meeting on Gor elections set for Tuesday)

FKF TO ARBITRATE

In a press briefing, Ndakwa said that the matter would be forwarded to Football Kenya Federation for arbitration.

“There are no bona fide office holders. The former officials are no longer in office and the matter will now have to be forwarded to the federation,” he said.

Signs of trouble had been evident as early as 12:30 pm with the charged gathering demanding to be furnished with the financial statement of the year ended as well as to be told why influential players were leaving the club instead of being tied to new deals.

Goalkeeper Ivo Mapunda and defender Donald Mosoti have both left the club for Tanzanian giants Simba SC after running down their contracts. (READ: Logarusic looking forward to Simba SC job)

One of the fans who spoke at the tense meeting said: “Mr Chairman (Ambrose Rachier), we respect you and appreciate what you have done. In your tenure the club has won the league title after along spell, but can we be told how much was raised from gate collections in the ended season as well as from Rama Salim’s sale and why we are letting go of our good players?” he posed.

Outgoing treasurer David Nyandega was booed when he reported that the gate collections realized from their 15 home matches in the ended season fell below the Sh10 million mark.

It took the tact of outgoing chairman Ambrose Rachier to temporarily calm the agitated fans. Rachier said that they would furnish every club stakeholder with the names of new recruits and those that have left the club by February next year.

Besides, Rachier added that their intention was to improve the players' welfare, including among others; player insurance and improving their terms of engagement.

However, the fans grew restless as the polls dragged on leading to the chaotic scenes.

Rachier was facing opposition from Nairobi-based advocate Eric Adede.