Fundraiser has potential to be another flop
Gor Mahia have announced that they will hold a major fund raiser next month. Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero will preside over a major funds-drive next month to raise Sh60 million for Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions Gor Mahia.
The club has been struggling to meet their obligations after shirt sponsors Tuzo pulled out of sponsoring them a few months ago.
According to officials involved in the exercise, this will be the biggest funds-drive ever and is meant to sustain the club operations for two seasons.
“We have set a tentative date for October 4. The Governor is deeply involved in the matter because he wants Gor Mahia to do well. A private company has been given the mandate to go and out and talk to friends of Gor Mahia to contribute generously, the official told goal.com.
But like other recent initiatives such as the 350100 campaign and the membership drive this effort also appears headed for failure or at least not meeting the expected Ksh 60 million. The reason is that it is being plagued by the very same issues that have plagued the other recent campaigns.
Lack of publicity
Firstly, there has been very little publicity and / or information. A significant proportion of the fans do not even know that there is a major fund raiser coming up. And many of these who know, are not aware of the exact date and venue. Much like the membership drive, the club simply announced the event and now expects fans to show up at the venue because they are Gor Mahia fans. Without prodding fans, appealing to fans and without publicizing the event, it might be headed for failure.
Note that the officials stated October 4 whereas the promotional materials available online state October 2. My guess is that the promotional materials are wrong, which is why it is even more important for the club officials to come forward and clarify.
Accountability
The reality of the situation is that the club chairman and other officials should be front and centre telling fans why it is important to participate. And if they want maximum participation, they should go further to assuage the concerns of any fans who might be wary about lack of accountability by outlining the measures they are taking to be more accountable. Many fans will participate but some will not because they are concerned that the money might be misappropriated. The club can address this issue weeks before the main event by assuaging the concerns of fans who are wary.
And this is where the argument fronted by Secretary General Omondi about accountability being only for members falls flat on its face: Most of the money the the club gets does not come from members and even potential sponsors often demand accountability. This fund raiser could be an opportunity to impress said potential sponsors.
No grassroots initiatives
One of the most unfortunate aspects of Gor Mahia nowadays is that the club has not seen it fit to strengthen the branches, to include them in the day to day running of the club. In past years, especially the 1970s and 1980s, the highly active branches were among the most crucial aspects in fund raising. Prior to each fund raiser, each branch would hold its own mini fundraiser then bring the money to the main fund raiser. In some cases, the branches would compete with each other to see which branch could raise the highest. The winner would actually receive a trophy.
Why branches are important is because not all fans can go to the venue of the fundraiser. In fact most Gor Mahia fans will not be at the venue. So how does a person who lives in Mombasa or Kisumu contribute now? Well the club has not made that clear….. But in past years it was not an issue since the Mombasa and Kisumu and other branches would hold their own mini-fundraiser to give grassroots / mashinani fans a chance to contribute whatever they have. Imagine having a situation where over 30,000 fans contribute ? That means that the money raised in the mini-harambees could be as high as that raised at the main venue perhaps even more.
The larger point here is that there are thousands of fans who will not be able to make it to the venue and the club has not announced any plans for how they will get these fans to contribute. So we must assume that no such plans exist currently.
What about diaspora based fans?
It has been mentioned several times on this forum that there are dozens of diaspora based fans who would be willing to contribute to the club, but the club has not reached out to them. Some bloggers have mentioned a variation of MPesa that can be used by diaspora based fans. But unless the club reaches out to diaspora based and specifies the exact methodology they should use, said fans will not take the initiative.
Once again I would urge the club’s officials to step forward and explain exactly why this particular fund-raiser is critical to the club, not just in 2014 but also in 2015 when Gor Mahia will need to replenish a badly depleted playing unit.
Good luck with this mashemeji :-).
It is true the CLUB is OFFICIALLY BROKE……………to quote BW in his last interview at gor mahia TV …..begin quote ” this players are living from hand to mouth, if I had my own money I would have chipped in, but unfortunately I don’t have the sources” end of quote !
My message to the EC
In the short term until the season ends, if 350100 and membership drive failed, then fundraising would not work as a stop gap measure ……….. as players starve to death I suggest we find ways of earning some upfront cash from the nine games remaining and clear all player salaries and allowances….a good bank can help you do that. It is called asset securitization.
In the long term I.e effective January 2015 we relocate the club to kisumu stadium and work out a strategy to develop the club afresh and forget the painful past.
Over to you Ambrose rachier!
And I also once raised the issue of the beef between kidero and the patron mr odinga, it is simply NOT good for the club to be associated with politicians and opposition !!!!!
You keep scaring away potential wanna be sponsors!!
As admin puts it a fundraiser mreans GM’s EC has once again turned 2 the the public,so much for that “accountability is only for members” statement by one of the 5 secretaries in EC. EC should infact apologize & withdraw.
Also the harambee for Loga’s car come into mind where the then EC pulled in directions with some even boycotting the event.
To me solution lies in monthly membership/sacco with a thoroughly accountable/transparent EC however small we start.
LET’S SWALLOW OUR PRIDE & WAKE UP!
oduor12@4….we have always said it here…without accountability and transparency we will never achieve our desired goals
its about time we put our house in order.we have the largest fan base ever but the EC is clueless on how best to make it to our advantage…or rather they just dont want to!!!!
Ironically we are good at pointing out the bad issues happening to the team but expect the players to win all matches. Now that the Harambee is poorly publicized why don’t we who know about it sambaza the message to those we think don’t know about it. While we expect Gor to excite/entertain us what have we ourselves done for Gor?
I think like @Kosero said in an earlier blog we whine alot and do nothing. A noble gesture like that for fundraising is already being politicized. I am sure both the Governor and former PM want Gor to succeed. If we play our politics right the sponsors will still come. After all it’s the politicians and their cronies who control the Kenyan economy.
Accountability is important to me. A couple of months ago I made a small donation through MPESA to support the youth team. Well, to-date I am yet to receive even an acknowledgement of that contribution of an accounting of how much was received and how it was used.
Accountability, Accountability, accountability will take our club far. Can we inject some measure of objectivity and accountability in the EC? Independent oversight?
lets give them the benefit of doubt and stop being too skeptical.
My question to Jakoyo: are the Governor and Baba associating with Gor Mahia in their political capacity? Let us appreciate that these gentlemen, despite the positions they hold in the society, also have a right to leisure and freedom of association. It just happens that their common choice for these basic necessities is Gor Mahia. Why is it not a political issue when Brookside sponsors the secondary school sports or Thika United?
I suggest that we remain courageous, stop being paranoid and avoid behaving as if we (Gor Mahia) owe someone an apology for being around. Take courage Jakie and hold your head high despite the main teething problems facing the team.
@Dan Original, people like Jakoyo and Oduori only know the negative side of Gor. Never on earth will they give you the positives of this club. Every club on earth has got its challanges and so the same with Gor. I wonder what kind of fans we have.
I read somewhere that over the weekend, 10 people died in South Africa during a scramble for hippo meat and this reminded me of similar happens back here in Kenya. My point is with all these similarities how come football clubs in SA are better organized and have stronger financial power? It is all a matter of vision, being selfless and allowing for accountability.
For guys to kill each other over game meat it means they suffer the same deprivation and poverty like us if not worse. They however got it right by institutionalizing their clubs and laying down structures for their development, growth, day-to-day running and sustainability. Gor Mahia, I believe is older than some of those most successful South Africa’s football clubs and we could be much further ahead if only we could put our heads together and plan jointly instead of resorting to knee-jerk reactions like the fundraiser. I am not opposed to the fundraiser, but allow me to ask this question: what happens next after Gor Mahia has successfully raised the KES 60 million? Will the team be forever rich? Is the fundraiser the panacea?
Let me once again throw the gauntlet to the administrator of this blog: you have clearly articulated the important role played by Gor Mahia branches in yesteryears. Kindly facilitate conversion of this blog site into a Gor Mahia branch. Please.
This initiative should not be critised. at least someone is trying to help gor. On the Agwambo issue i think it’s high time Odinga stopped using gor for political purposes. Gor matches are not the venues to carry out your campaigns on Okoa kenya crusade. Kidero has always supported gor even when in mumias. the gor saga of today is a national issue and it’s so sad when some still want it to remain a luo club yet expect other communities to give their money to sponsor the club. my beef will still be with the so called fans who think that the club shall be supported thru’ violence if need be. the other being players who think that they are too big in gor hence can continue playing crap football at the expense of fan attendance dropping. gor mahia has so much that it could tap to its advantage even without sponsors but the continued myopic Luo management has had it all stalled.non of the governors in nyanza have come up with a stadium idea worth mentioning to date. Find out how the Nigerian national team chose Calabar to be it’s home ground. so the talk continues around Mpesa, 350100, stadium building, co-operative society, fan base …the list is endless. the ironically part is that all these are viable ideas but so long as the leadership remains myopic…keep dreaming.
to all Mighty Kogallo letz leave everything to God almighty let him direct us in everythin
so who is going to manage the money. is it the same people who when we have a match in nairobi are the same people who tell some of the fans to enter into the stadium with 100 bob only for those money to go into the cartels goons in Gor. the money will only benefit the cartels while the playaz will suffer. if the money will b for the benefit of the club yes but with no accountability 70 % will go to the private pocket. let the money be raised and go directly to the playaz account
If only the senior team could emulate the resolve of the junior team which is doing wonders at the lower division. Have managed to watch their matches and was impreseed by their resove to grind out results even when playing with much mature teams than them. And from the organisation you can tell that the team is lacking even the basic things.
Either we SWALLOW OUR PRIDE & WAKE OR KEEP ON DREAMING.
Its not about being negative but rather facing facts.
1. How many harambees in Kenya have been able to realize kshs.60m & above?
As posed before even if the harambee is succesfull how long will the Kshs.60m last. Obviously EC has no budget or expense control/rationalization.
2. Given that the new coach’s salary is kshs.600,000/month that translates to kshs 7.2million per year. A cool 24% of kshs.30m the yearly figure EC is targeting.
Not bad if EC was able to buy/ retain top class players and pay players on time.
3. Why hire a coach for kshs.600,000 per month with the rider that you may sometimes not be able to pay his salary on time. Why not go for a kshs.300,000 per month coach and with 600,000 you managed to pay him for 2months. In 3 months you’ve paid the coach kshs.900,000 and have kshs.900,000 balance to cater for the TB’s and players salaries.
If the head coach is earning 600k, what is his deputy earning and the other members of the TB?
4. How much did we pay Situmbeko? Wasn’t it a good percentage of what EC is trying to raise?
EC’s challenge is accepting accountability and transparency and having in place the right structures to grow this great club.
With the Jakom AR in his 3rd term it has finally dawned on some us that the chaos and hurdles are more likely deliberately created for some reason or other.
A fundraiser is the best way to raise money without any of hassles of accountability and transparency!
Just like the gate collections the true amount raised will probably be understated. I could go on….
So what do we do? Continue exposing the issues hoping they will disappear? Now that we know all the problems isn’t it time to act and solve them? Isn’t the fundraiser a step towards sorting out the financial crunch?
I think the club now needs action to resolve the issues instead of constantly whinning about them. We were even told that the players have never been paid until one blogger contradicted that.
No doubt club needs action but what kind of action I ask continue bankrolling the opaque bloated EC!
Ever heard of this I guess it applies equally to what you call whinning and this incessant appeal to bankroll an opaque EC through non accountable harambees/paybills. The choice is open.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein
I love the way the facts are twisted but like I said the archives are there to buttress the facts.
Aug 21, 2014 11:09:02
Goal can report that K’Ogalo chairman on Thursday gave out cash money to assistant Bobby Ogolla to pay players’ as training and winning allowances
Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier was forced to drive to City Stadium on Thursday and settle players’ allowances in a bid to end a ‘go slow’ that had threatened to derail team’s push for a consecutive Kenyan Premier League title.
Rachier arrived at training ground early in the morning and gave out some money to assistant coach Bob Ogolla to hand over to the players.
The players are reported to have gone on a go slow since Monday protesting at unpaid training and winning allowances.
But Rachier denied reports of a go slow insisting that all is well in camp. “It is true that we owe them some money and I have cleared a bit of it on Thursday morning. No player went on strike.
Do we believe what your blogger “contradicted” or what GMFC’s Chair has admitted in the second last sentence of the last paragraph above.
The time has come for us to swallow our pride for the sake of our beloved Gor Mahia.It has been said that there are some companies who are willing to associate with GorMahia but there are some internal forces who think they owned the club and are not ready to coperate/abide with this simple conditions such as accountability and professionalism.Just as some bloggers have indicated that we need professionals in football not politics of okoa kenya.And some of you who still think that everything that Odinga’s family touched is gold you are doom.And if Baba wants to contribute,he can still do that without holding any post just like Kidero.It comes a times when the club is bigger than an individual.
Fans, we have lost it. Some postings are excellent but others are even discouraging the potential fans and sponsors. On accountability, we are alright and we must embrace the accountability and let this begin with every blogger, Executive Committee, players, fans, TB, politicians etc. if we fans always make free entry to stadias, is the accountability?
On RAO and EK associating with clubs for political reasons, what is wrong with that? Gentlemen, we bloggers should stop posting nonsense about our leaders associating with Gor Mahia. Further both RAO and EK have given the club support both financially and morally. There if you hate them, then evaluate what you Mr. Right has given to the club and then compare. Do you all know what other Luo leaders have given or donated to the club?
Both RAO and EK are free to support the club and if we do not want them to support the team, why can’t we bloggers make all these initiatives of fund raising be a success?
On sponsorships not forthcoming, we need to blame first ourselves that believe that we own the club with our mouths but not with action. It us the hooligans in our midst that have contributed to this fathom. Secondly, I blame the executive on not being aggressive and lack of accountability. For example look at KRA saga, has this saga been resolved? If not who will associate with the institution that do not pay Caesar what belongs to Ceasar and God what belongs to God. Both RAO and EK have nothing to do with this debacle.
If we are frustrated in our houses by not being good fathers, husbands, mothers, etc, we should not extend this to the club. Let accountability start with us first before we point out any evil in Gor Mahia.
On salary being paid to the coach, there is nothing wrong with the coach being paid Kshs.600,000 per month. Every good and excellent things have costs. If the club has a cheaply paid coach, we will still complain. When will we as fans and bloggers learn to appreciate good things?
Let us learn to appreciate every good gestures and expose all rots at the club but not blame games we are posting here.
Let us own the club,no one will come from heaven to support us.I agree withn Kidero wuod Asumbi.If only he can help us get 60 million on that day then most of our problems shall have been resolved.
We can then go back and sensitize members of importance of ownership.
Dr.Kidero ,kindly help us get back the land for gor Mahia field.We can give it to China to develop it immediately so that the Afcon that Kenya is dreaming about can give us enough income to take the club for one year.the China men can recover cost by leasing it out.They can even construct basic houses for players.
Thanks all.
Lets view this initiative positively.
i am Gor mahia fan i leave in tanzania this fundraiser needs to be done well,there are alot of diaspora funs die hard to be exact please find awy for us to be involved in our club we may be far awy but we love our club the secretariet should do something about this.Gor mahia fun leaving in dar tz .meshack ndolo.