City Auditor to vie for Chairmanship
Courtesy of starAfrica.com
A Nairobi based taxation, audit and financial accounting specialist Harrison Odhiambo Okwiri has announced that he will contest for the Chairmanship post in the forthcoming Gor Mahia General elections slated for the end of this year.
Okwiri now becomes the first candidate to formally declare his candidature for the club’s top position which is currently held by Nairobi prominent lawyer Ambrose Rachier.
Among the key issues that Okwiri plans to address as club chairman are financial integrity,talent development, sponsorships and restructuring the club to accomodate its branches in its constitution.
Contacted for comment,Rachier said Okwiri has every democratic right to vie for the seat.’ He is welcome to vie for any seat including others who want to throw their hat in the ring.”Observed Rachier who is a prominent Nairobi city Lawyer.
Okwiri made the announcement when he unveiled his vision at the Nyayo National Stadium flanked by hundreds of supporters.
Okwiri disclosed that once mandated to take charge of the club,he will plunge in a whooping Kshs 200 million sponsorship from South Africa based Rainbow Mineral’s Corporation where he has close links .
Okwiri took the occasion to unveil some of his line-up that includes former players led by Tielen Oguta who wants to vie for the position of secretary General currently held by George Bwana. Other former players who graced the occasion and vowed to support him include Zablon ‘Pro’Otieno, Patrick Oyiengo, William Odidi,and Julius Awilo” Owino among others.
“This club,Okwiri added, is in need of a leader with proven experience in management and one who is committed to the vision of a re-branded Gor Mahia that is well energized and poised to recapture its past glory’
He said it was sad that a club of Gor caliber that collects over Shs.2 million in one league match does not have a training ground/club house or insurance cover for their players.
It’s sad that our rivals like AFC Leopards, Sofapaka and Mathare United have insured their players with medical covers . The other day ,our player Paul Kiongera who was injured,almost lost his career after hopping from one hospital to another until last week when he made a comeback after a three month absence. I will not accept this to happen during my tenure if given the chance” said he.
These are busy bodies……I do not think that Mr. Okwiri is the right candidate. We have sponsorship with TUZO and have the following questions for Mr. Okwiri:-
1. How will Kshs.200 million come in?
2. What is the interest of mining company which is based in South Africa to do with Gor Mahia?
3. Are these empty promises like past promises?
4. Can he bring sponsors now so that we can consider him as a serious candidate?
5. Has the South African based mining company sponsored any team in South Africa?
I do not support anyone for leadership in the team.
I strongly propose that we go the way EFFUSI or Ingwe conducted their election with a vetting board or team being established to vet people like Mr. Okwiri.
We fans need to be serious with Gor Mahia. It is not about those who are shouting loudest along the street with empty promises. We need action oriented leaders but not like some of the current officials that cannot be counted on anything as far as running of the club is concerned.
Why do we need a bloated office bearers which is good for nothing at the end of the day? What are the value additions being brought by Senior, Deputy Senior, Senior and Vice chairmen?
I suggest that we need to elect only five officials as follows:-
1. Chairman & Vice,
2. Secretary & Deputy and
3. Treasurer.
We should do away with the people like the following inept officials that include:-
1. Kilo
2. Faiz
3. OJ
4. Bwana
5. Nyadega
6. Ominde
7. etc
Mr Okwiri, I think that u r just campaigning bcos if u have gor in your heart then u can facilitate the sponsorship deal even if u r not the chairman or any official of gormahia fc.U r talking about prooven record .what is ua record. I would like to here from u what u have done to gor mahia & not what u will do.I think if u tell us what u v done is when we will consider u.But now we can only trust Ambrose Rachier with gor mahia bcos he has a record.
@ 1 Ja-Uriri – I echo your sentiments.
As much as it’s Okwiri’s democratic right to view we must ask him some questions.
1) Why can’t Gor get this sponsorship now or is it tied to your being elected?
2) Currently, like all other teams, we have challenges how have you helped?
3) On asst. coach plse help him get the UEFA class B licence and an abode like the one Governor got for the main coach
4) Our coach needs a car for comfort
5) Get us the documents for the piece of land that was donated by Nyayo
6) Why do you believe that former players would ordinarily make good managers and it seems you believe that GM should be an employer of former players?
7) Some of the people flanking you like Tillen (KRA) are currently attached to other clubs
8)Don’t you think that your candidature is a distraction at this time since the focus should now be on winning the league after which you can surface in November to sell your agenda
9) Since I have not heard of you helping the team will you disappear and become just an ordinary member if not elected
10) Give us your 2 year plan for GM
As fans lets give the club back to its qualified legends who’ve won titles as players and can translate this valuable experience towards our beloved club’s administrations.
We fans really put the club at risk by electing persons with absolutely no experience whatsoever in football matters during the last elections.
We only need not more than 7 elected official as directors and I love to see Obwaka,Lule,Sianga and AR for purposes of continuity.
Gor Mahia focus right now is to win KPL and FKL accolades. I have the following tough observations to make on M/S Okwiri:-
1. It is your democratic right to offer yourself for election, are the same Okwiri that had promised Gor Mahia a fat sponsorship sometimes back of Kshs.200 million? How come you have never fulfilled the promise?
2. Why have started your campaign so early, are going going to distract our performance now when we need to win all the remaining games in order for us to win the championship?
3. Where have you been all these years on support to our clamour club?
4. Can you give us your bio data or cv on your past record regarding integrity in managing finances and public institution like Gor Mahia?
5. We hare read a number of former players like Awilo colleasing around you, what are your plans for their welfare?
6. Can you show case your blue print on Gor Mahia for both short term, medium term and long term?
7. You have promised a sponsorship from a mining company from South Africa, why can’t you crystallize this sponsorship now to show your strong candidature for the chairmanship?
8. Why are you coming up with a line up?
9. Can you tell us why you think you offer the best candidature tas compared to the current chairman?
10. Can you tell the fans your past role and involvement in supporting Gor Mahia?
11 . Can you tell us why you want to be our chairman?
Mr. Okwiri, frankly speaking we have never heard about this company in sponsorship of football activities in South Africa or anywhere. May be please shade some light on this matter.
On election matters and candidates that are offering themselves, this time round we are not going to elect mediocre office bearers whose job descriptions have been fleecing the club left right and centre through gate collection. We need to elect able men and women who mean well to the club.
We fans have to vet all candidates regardless of who is fronting them to become officials. Let us examine all candidates regardless of where they are coming from or what positions they are offering themselves for in he forthcoming election.
On office bearers, I propose that we have a lean office with only chairman and vice, secretary and deputy and treasurer. We need to maintain an executive committee of five officials only together with three coated executive committee members giving us a total of 8-9 officials.
The forthcoming election should give us opportunity to restructure Gor Mahia in terms of the following mandates:-
A. Turning the club to a professional football club
B. Develop the youth team with support of the new coach. This will ultimately lead to a feeder club.
C. Set up a full secretariat with CEO, Finance & Administration Director, market and merchandising Director, membership and recruitment director.
D. Form strategic partnerships with English Premier League clubs, Spanish clubs, French clubs, Italian clubs, Germany clubs, etc.
E. Build a club house and training ground with a long term plan of building a club stadium.
F. Bring professionalism in running of the club matters.
G. Come up with mechanisms of fund raising activities through broadening of membership base, sale of club merchandise and selling the club abroad.
H. Set up under 20, under 18 and under 15 teams
I. Merchandising and replicas development that include;
– replica jerseys both green and white
– caps,
– track suits,
– cups,
– plates,
– wheel-covers,
– towels,
– pens
– porches,
– mobile handset covers
– bags
– polo t-shirts
– skin guards
– scarves
– shashas
– balls
– lessos for women
– stickers
– miniatures
J. Automate gate collection receipts to avoid spillages and revenue losses through either Mpesa and collection bank accounts.
K. Initiate weekly briefings and create open days with fans
better the devil you know than the angle you dnt know. Okwiri since city lawyer took over,What turff competion have you given him in our club? What challenges have you ever shown hivm? We ussually have annual meetings with the officials do you always attend these meetings? For me, I dont know you, I have never heard of u,so pliz try after Rachier’s death. or start your own club then manage then we will promote you.
we dont want politics now nkt.
In my view by involving former players Okwiri’S team is 100 times better than the current bloated executive community but imagine Oguta as Sec.Gen managing/instructing Sir Bob our coach??? But given their right to stand i would love to see the following camps battle it out:
1.Team legends-E.g OBWAKA,LULE,SIANGA,MAKAMU,AR etc to a max of 5 elected officials employing 3 qualified managers-CEO,FINANCE/MARKETING as advocated by Mwakio etc
VERSUS 2. THE OKWIRI CAMP VERSUS 3. THE CURRENT EC OF14
@ Oduor12
In my opinion, former players should only be given technical positions and only if they are qualified e.g assistant coach, team manager, scout etc
Positions such as Chairman and Vice Chairman and SG should go to people with vast private sector experience and private sector contracts who can even bring in sponsorship and strike other deals of the club.
I am afraid that AFC is much better run than Gor Mahia
@ Riaga i agree with you that effussi is better managed but differ with you on the other aspect of restricting former legends to technical positions thereby running the risk of electing persons whose first experience in managing soccer in any capacity & estabishling contacts with be by virtue of their being an official of GM. Looking at the current EC nobody meets your standards apart from AR, now consider Dr.Obwaka who has a thriving private medical practive versus the likes of Faiz etc
contd… Sianga has managed Simba TZ.The elected officials then hire 3 qualified managers a CEO,FINANCE/MARKETING to administer the club on a full time basis.
Note that currently the clubs biggest asset is its fan base whose visibility thru SS is what makes coaches like B.W, Logarusic etc apply for jobs,The Ec did not look for them but rather they LOOKED for K’galo. Win the league & CECAFA & sponsors,club affiliations etc will start flocking in droves.With our LEGENDS WE ARE IN SAFER HANDS
Does gor mahia need a vice chairman ?
fans fans lets not be naive ambrose rachier has brought stability at gormahia but that is not enough.i don’t know this okwiri guy but I agree with him that gormahia needs serious sponsorship not the about 20m tuzo is giving us.the so called south african company may not be sponsoring any club but that does not stop them from sponsoring gormahia.,even the etihad air line sponsoring man city dint sponsor any serious football club before man city and asking w hat okwiri had to gormahia.net as alan is very piety coz some of us even spent over 100 thousand shilling going to support the team against feraviero demaputo and we don’t make noise about it so if okwiri can bring his financial expertise to move the club forward let it be .gormahia need better management thn what we have now.
gormahia needs better management I agree totaly.what people asking why okwiri didn’t bring the sponsorship before is not fair on him some of us who have worked with international companies we know that they cannot negotiate with outsider which I believe okwiri is.Hehehe can only negotiate as the chairman.let okwiri or any better person take over at the club
knowing candidates or not is not an issue.20m that tuzo gives gormahia is very little.we need serious sponsorship therefore the 200m okwiri is bringing is long overdue.players need insurance .i think rachier brought stability to gormahia but we need to move to the next level .id okwiri will take us there then let him use his financial knowhow and move gormahia.net up
Why get personal with okwiri,it is his democratic right 2 vie.and those drumming support 4 rachier,cn u tell us wot he has achieved in the past 2yrs to warrant a new term?has he fulfilled the promises he made 2yrs ago?where is the club house?
@ ja-uriri, am very surprised that you are talking about what you dont know,did you attend the last Gm when infront of the whole crowd Mr Okwirri requested the current office to give him the copies of
1.club constitution
2.copy of the current Tuzo deal
3.The copy of the registration certificate etc.
Is there any of you who has followed up on that promise to question Mr. okwirri,For your information i have & can give you this fact, When the chairman was contacted for the documents some of his allies informed him that Mr.okwirri will take the club & the current office blocked that, do you what him to still the documents and for further clarification are u aware that the Gm we had was forced after Mr.okwirri Pushed for a special AGm,
I don’t support anybody for now but let us have our facts right before we talk however much you can live somebody.
I Satisfied with the stewardship of Mr. Rachier. let Okwiri join him either as a sectary general, treasurer or organiser and take advantage of such position to bring his input to supliment the already implemented ones so that the club can smoothly overcome the unforseen hurdles of the future.
Mr. Rachier is our man. Guys leave politics out of Kogalo. Am fully behind Rachier. Less talk but action.
@jakolago, I do not think you know what you are talking about. Mr. Okwiri should come out clean and tell all our fans you included why he can not initiate sponsorship now before December 2013 AGM. These other things you are alluding to that include club constitution, copy of the current Tuzo deal and the copy of the registration certificate etc can come later. I still refer to him as a busy body…..aimed at distracting the team from winning KPL Log.
These are just sideshows and yapping. These are the kind of people when given chance, they will disappear in thin air with mobile phones mteja hapatikani kwa sasa.
If he has been in Gor Mahia circles, what has he contributed to the club? Where has been since he gave a fat promise of Kshs.200 million sponsorship? Let us call a spade a spade but not a small spoon jakolago.
Jakolago, show us your friend and we will tell him what he portrays.
Fellows – let’s win the League first, and then put our energies on electioniaring and campaining for the various posts.
Go Gor !
Go Gor !!
Go Gor !!!
Okwiri.The verdict is out.Rachier has revuved Gor.What have u done for them?
okwiri its your right to contest for any post. How do we expect him to bring the 200m sponsorship and he is not in the office.that mining company sponsors mamelodi sundown of south africa
Lets stop politicking, we want win the league. My humble point to know to Okwiri,
1. Why are you only bringing players who are struggling on board?
2.Players you have on board what have they done to Gor?
3.What have done to Gor?
I suggest that any body who want run for chairmanship 2m,G.S should give 2m, other post 1.5. Many elective post in Gor should be trimmed to 4 positions.
We should have a board of former respected players and officials to over see the process of elections.
Each and every member should give Ksh.5,000 to minimize importation of voters. players like Tielen Oguta, Zablon they a bardoned us at the time of need.
@Mwakio. Of all the comments I have read in this forum yours are the sanest (very brilliant ans spot on). I would also like to add that being a Gor legend and managing Gor are two different things. We should give leadership to people of integrity and who can deliver. Leadership should not be based on loyalty but on the ability to have a vision and to be courageous enough to implement the vision. It is now time to take Gor to greater heights of prosperity. I welcome the likes of Oguta and Obwaka but on the technical bench and as Gor’s ambassadors. Rachier has done well (in fact very well) but we need to give him able assistants. And as Mwakio or someone noted it is a high time we implement an open house policy where fans can scrutinise the club’s activities and get honest answers from the officals.
Harrison Okwiri is a con-artist with no leadership qualities whatsoever. He does not pay his suppliers, yet he is claiming to have integrity. He is very dishonest and has a very casual approach to issues (yaani juakali). He cannot be entrusted with the leadership of the country’s most prosperous and outstanding club.
If anyone needs prove of my claims I have enough evidence. If you love Gor then ignore this character and let him stay where he belongs- huko kwa benches like any other fan but he should not be given any leadership role.