Oliech now demanding Ksh 6.2 million

Story courtesy of the Star

Former Harambee Star captain Dennis Oliech is demanding Sh6.2 million from Gor Mahia for unlawful termination of his contract.

Through his lawyer Elvis Majani, Oliech has written to the club arguing that it wrongfully terminated his two-year contract.

The top-flight club has been given seven days to pay Sh1.4 million as a balance of the signing fee, Sh2.2 million as loss of income and Sh2.6 million for the unlawful termination.

Gor Mahia signed on Oliech on January 2, 2019, on a signing fee of Sh2.8 million with an 18 month fixed term contract agreement.

As per the terms of the contract, Oliech was to earn Sh220,000 per month as a player for the Kenya Premier League champions.

“Upon his signing of the contract, our client assumed duty and duly performed his role and functions on the strength of the aforesaid contract,” the letter states.

It adds that Gor Mahia breached the said contract and “unilaterally decided to terminate the contract of employment citing just cause.”

The letter says that the termination letter indicated that Oliech was guilty of serious and persistent misconduct with continued poor performance and absenteeism from training.

“You have further stated that our client offered himself as a candidate for popular political elections,” the letter states.

It also says that Gor Mahia has failed, neglected and refused to pay Oliech his s igning on fees in full.

“Despite constant verbal and written demand to be paid his dues, you have only paid him half his signing on fee and have failed to settle the amount still owed to him,” the letter states.

Oliech says that he has never received any warnings as to his conduct to warrant the club to rely on such as grounds for termination of the contract.

His letter further states that he picked up an injury on May 6, 2019 in a match against Western Stima and has not been cleared medically to participate in training or any physical activity.

“In contravention of article 14 of the Fifa Regulations on the Status and Transfer of players on which you place reliance, the commentary to the said regulation provides that persistent misconduct should at 1st be punished by a warning, reprimand or fine. None of which was handed to our client,” Oliech’s lawyers write.

They also argue that the club cannot cite poor performance as no parameters were agreed beforehand between Gor Mahia and Oliech.

“Furthermore, our client managed to score 5 league goals having managed much less starts than the club’s top scorer who managed to score 9 league goals having started more matches than our client,” the letter states.

On Gor Mahia’s claim that Oliech had joined politics, the letter says that his name is not listed by any party or the election regulator IEBC as a candidate in the political elections.

“There exists no photos of our client on his social media accounts of him declaring his intention to vie for the political seat. On the contrary, he has actively shown support for another candidate vying for the same seat he is accused of offering his candidacy,” the letter says.

It also states that Article 38 of the constitution guarantees every citizen the right to make political choices; which includes the right to be a candidate for political office.

“Additionally, our client is an executive in the Nairobi county sports department, a fact that you are well aware of and were well aware of when he entered into an employment contract with yourselves,” the letter states.

It concludes that Oliech’s 18 months fixed-term employment contract has been terminated prematurely; malicious reasons have been advanced in support of the said dismissal; and his legitimate expectation of earning from his contract has been cut short.

This, his lawyers say, violates the Constitution, various laws as well as FIFA regulations.