Government should give aid to all cash-strapped teams in the league

It is open knowledge that the national government and not a county government came to the rescue of the cash-strapped Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Gor Mahia to the tune of Sh10 million. This information eluded some of us who love facts and the reaction to the move from the government is very interesting.

K’Ogalo players resumed training after a boycott due to unpaid salaries. The rescue package seems to have worked wonders.

Gor Mahia coaches have been known to go for holidays and never come back. When we learnt that the current coach Briton Steven Polack is on holiday in England yet there are holiday KPL fixtures, many Gor fans were vexed.

The Gor Mahia administration has been pulling out all the stops to try and reassure sceptics that the coach will back today as promised. “It’s just a holiday,” they have been saying.

But we doubt that.

The government’s aid to Gor is good for the team. But some quarters think that it is only a government attempt to grease the only hinge that can creak with the loudest noise possible. It looks fake and political.

We have chanted and ranted in this column about the behaviour of the Ministry of Sports over the state of football in this country this season. But our noise fell on deaf ears.

We had 18 teams playing in the Premier League before Sony Sugar were relegated for lack of finances. Sony Sugar had been given the maximum walkovers allowed by the rules before being given the boot from the top-tier.

All the teams except Bandari, who are catered for by the Kenya Ports Authority, are in dire straits financially. They all need help. The sugar miller which used to sponsor Sony has been struggling.

Companies linked to well-connected individuals have sprung up and are making grand profits every day without a care for the communities they slurp. Sony Sugar Football Club only needs a eulogy.

The team can no longer be helped and even the government did nothing about their problem. No assistance was given to them.

AFC Leopards are losing good players who are seeking life elsewhere and nobody can blame them for that. They have not been paid for aeons! They had the same sponsors as Gor Mahia before government meddling spoilt the party. No one has come to their aid.

This depressing narrative is repeated all over the league. It would have been prudent if the government would open its eyes for once and see the sewer in which these teams reside and extend assistance to all of them through these hard times.

What if all teams went the way Sony did and we remain with only one team? Will it be worth it? Will it be a league?

Aid must be given to all the teams in the Kenyan Premier League.

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