Reports: Gor Mahia press charges against official

After having jettisoned coach Frank Nuttall in dramatic style, the Gor Mahia EC continued with their no prisoner taken approach when they pressed charges against a club official Josiah Oliech aka Kwaru.

According to Ronald Ngala, Kwaru contravened the club’s constitution when he deliberately authored a letter calling for an Annual General Meeting (AGM) with elections as an item on the agenda, yet he is not a bona fide club official or a member of Gor’s Executive Council.

Additional reporting from the Standard

A row is brewing between Gor Mahia Football Club and former official Josiah Oliech over a stolen letterhead.

The 2015 Kenyan Premier League (KPL) champions have instituted legal proceedings against Oliech aka ‘Kwaru’ for allegedly stealing the club’s official letterhead and allegedly using it to propagate false information about Gor’s operations.

According to official police statements recorded at Nyayo Stadium Police Post, Ronald Ngala, Gor’s acting Secretary General, claims that contrary to Gor Mahia club’s constitution, the Societies Act and the Sports Act 2013, Kwaru deliberately authored a letter calling for an Annual General Meeting (AGM) with elections as an item on the agenda, yet he is not a bona fide club official or a member of Gor’s Executive Council.

“Oliech Kwaru has used the club’s letterhead to write a letter which he is not authorised to,” said Ngala in his statement with the police.

As such, Gor has asked the Criminal Investigative Department (CID) of the Kenya Police Service to investigate the circumstances under which Kwaru used the club’s official letterhead. In their request, Ngala wants Kwaru to explain how he got the said documents and who authorised him to write to the Ministry of Sports, Culture and the Arts.

Oliech, in his alleged letter to the Commissioner of Sports, had quoted sections of the club’s constitution and the Sports Act, giving notice of an Annual General Meeting.

Kwaru’s notice read in part: “Attention is also drawn to article 13 C of the constitution relating to the nomination of office bearers, together in accordance with the Sports Act of 2015, that the Annual General Meeting of Gor Mahia FC shall be held on the April 3, 2016 at the Nyayo Stadium handball court.”

However, the former Sports Commissioner, Gordon Oluoch, faulted Kwaru’s alleged letter for being unprocedural.

According to Oluoch, only the club’s official executive council can call for elections, and such a notice should be directed to members and not the ministry of Sports.

“As far as supervision of elections is concerned, it is only the Registrar of Sports who should receive a copy of notice calling for elections, upon which the ministry will only send representatives as observers of the electoral process. We have no role whatsoever in calling for club elections,” said Oluoch who has since been elevated to the role of Director General, Sports Kenya.

When contacted by The Nairobian, Kwaru dismissed the claims of theft and said that the club, under Ambrose Rachier’s leadership, was being economical with the truth. Kwaru argued that the current Gor Mahia office holders have violated the constitution, which requires that the club holds an Annual General Meeting and conduct elections after every two years. Kwaru, who formerly served Gor as an assistant Secretary General, said that immediately the Sports Act came into effect in 2013, Rachier ought to have called for an extra-ordinary meeting of all club members to institute a legal process to comply with the Sports Act.

“I did not call for the elections as an imposter; it is the club that gave me the mandate in 2008, and again in 2014 to call for elections as a member and chair of Gor Mahia’s independent electoral board.

I have all documents to prove that I have been in talks with Rachier and the executive committee as far as club elections are concerned. My appointment as the coordinator of elections still stands and at no point have I received any communication revoking or terminating my engagements with the club,” said Kwaru.