Erastus Okul urges Rachier to allow new leadership
Erastus Okul (pictured above with James Orengo), who was Rachier’s immediate predecessor as Chairman is asking Rachier to allow new leadership so that new ideas can be brought to the club
Additional reporting from the Nation
Former Gor Mahia chairman Erastus Okul has waded into the upcoming club polls and opposed the candidature of his successor Ambrose Rachier in the elections slated for August 8.
Okul, who handed the mantle to Rachier in 2009, says it is time another individual takes over since he feels the former has done enough and achieved a lot at the club in his 11 years at the helm.
“I am advising Rachier to leave Gor Mahia and hand leadership to a younger generation. He has won titles and stabilized the team, this notion that the club cannot survive without him is scaring people from going for the position. He should let other people rule,” Okul told Nation Sport from his home in Kendu Bay, Homa Bay County.
Rachier has already announced his intention to defend his post and was recently quoted as saying it would not be fair to leave the club before it becomes financially stable.
Under his reign, Gor has won seven Kenyan Premier League titles and managed a quarter final berth in the Caf Confederation Cup in 2018.
The 71-year-old Okul, who also served as Kenya Premier League chairman, dismissed the attainment of degree as a condition for every aspirant to vie for the four posts up for grabs.
The four positions are Secretary General, Honorary Treasurer, Chairman and Vice Chairman.
“The issue of degree doesn’t apply in club leadership and should be struck out. Why was the constitution passed without our input as individuals who served the club in the past,? he posed.
“Any person interested in a post should be allowed to vie and majority of club members should be allowed to elect a leader of their choice,” added Okul.
He also asked for the exercise to be postponed to a later date to give all members an opportunity to participate because of the current state of coronavirus pandemic in the country.
The new Gor Mahia constitution stipulates that all aspirants for various posts should have a degree before being cleared to vie.
The issue has created divisions among supporters of outgoing club organising Secretary Judith ‘IMF’ Anyango, fondly known as Nyangi, who is interested in the honorary treasurer post.
Anyango, who doesn’t have a degree, has promised to raise her complaint with the Sports Registrar and take it to the Sports Dispute Tribunal if the new constitution will be used in the elections.
She further alleged that there is a plot to lock her out of the elections because of the thorough oversight role she has played in the last four years as a Gor Mahia official.
The electoral board has already been put in place to oversee the election and only those who will have registered by Monday midnight will be allowed to vote during the polls.
Leadership are not give but must be competed for. Your time was there and you failed to inspire the club and steer it as a form able entity. If you are interested then come up for the election. Who do you have in mind Mr. Okul? Vie but avoid bringing politics.
Admin, what are the procedures for online registration as Member? Kindly bring us up to speed. Asante sana.
Erasto Okul is finally making sense. Rachier has made it impossible for anyone to challenge him. There are only 400 members left of whom half are probably his friends ans relatives. And he has given challengers only one month. He has created the impression that the club will fall apart without him.
I AM A REGISTERED MEMBER AND I WILL VOTE OUT AMBROSE RACHIER
Elections are energizers of thoughts and ideas. At least voices are coming in now as Gor’s election looms. I am sure many other people will also voice in their ideas particularly how to fund Gor out of this financial quagmire.
That’s very easy but the problem is that ideas are hijacked by vested interests e.g:
Why does GMAF retain and refuse to pay suffering players and TB yet it has collected donations on their behalf by virtue of using the Gor Mahia name/brand.
1) Could the aspiring GMFC treasurer, Ms. Dolfina, be using the retained GMAF funds to bank roll her campaign for the treasurer’s post. Reliable sources assert that GMAF officials created the “rule” of retaining funds meant for players soon after Ms.Dolfina was selected as an official.
2) Ms Dolfina and her husband cannot lay any personal advantage / credit of being pictured presenting GMAF dummy cheques. These were ideas generated by GMAF members long before they joined the initiative. As GMAF member no.140+ they are not the originators of the Augmentin idea. They took advantage of presenting the cheques to increase her visibility.
3) The aspiring treasurer is said to be behind the payment of a +40 member youth team. Can the club afford to elect such an extravagant treasurer?
Know your prospective candidates to Vote wisely!
For over one year , I have longed for somebody Visionary , credible and with substancial gravitas to rescue as from an EC that seemed to have reached its developmental menopause , since it has been my contention that Rachier is a Giant Dwarf sarrounded by Midgets in the EC , unfortunately my desires have come to nought since even as I type this , I know not of anybody who has so far declared his/her candidacy , all I have seen is the usual wailing from the usual “Rachier must go ” ochestra /choir /jazz band .
For the last one year or so , all serious people have known that the term of the current office would come to an end and any serious person wishing to contest would have known that only registered members would be eligible to vote and as such , should have , through whatever superior vision they assumed they had , sold it to the Gor Mahia fraternity and incentivised and encouraged /mobilised them to, in critical mass register to put him/her into office to actualise that vision , for its only in office and through a vote and not social media screaming that visions can be implemented .
Secondly , the official campaining period for a general elections in Kenya is around three weeks or thereabout and hence 4weeks is enough for somebody serious , but ofcourse for a clown , even 12months would not be enough , moreso if your clowning starts and ends on social media .
As for Mr Okul , am sure nobody left for you the position of Gor Mahia when you became Chairman but for what its worth , all I remember of your tenure is that you left Gor Mahia hanging precariously on Stones .
Gor Mahia is too serious an entity to be gambled by experimentalists and if all factors remain as they are , I will settle for the Giant Dwarf but beef it up with a Vice Chairman , Sec Gen and Treasurer who can add some percentages to the Dwarf’s 40% .and definitely these cannot be voyagers like Ngala, Bolo or Nyangi.