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According to a Standard exposee, Local clubs especially Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards are losing millions of shillings in gate collections as crooks have discovered a new way of making money. And some club officials may be culpable.<\/p>\n
An intricate cartel involving gate attendants, security firms and sometimes club officials are responsible for the huge losses. The most surprising thing\u00a0 is that clubs do not follow up and press charges when those responsible are arrested perhaps an indicator to their collusion.<\/p>\n
But Gor Mahia are the hardest hit when it comes to fake tickets.\u00a0 An official at City Stadium who requested that they have twice arrested a suspect popularly known as \u2018Baba Mercy\u2019 selling fake tickets but efforts to prosecute him did not succeed as some club officials asked for his release.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a bit surprising,\u00a0 we had arrested someone with a book of fake tickets worth Sh50,000 and when we informed Gor Mahia officials, they asked us to release him. Is it possible that they knew something about it?\u201d wondered the official.<\/strong><\/p>\n When Gor Mahia played arch-rivals AFC Leopards three weeks ago in the much hyped derby, a person was arrested selling fake tickets.The person who made the arrest was the club\u2019s vice-chairman David Kilo who confirmed that the man had about Sh35,000 on him from the sale of the fake tickets.<\/p>\n \u201cI took him to Kasarani police station and informed the club\u2019s treasury to follow up. I\u2019m not sure whether anything was done about it,\u201d said Kilo.<\/p>\n Gor Mahia chairman Ambrose Rachier while admitting the vice has become a major challenge, pointed out it is a major cartel involving many people, our people.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery-time the matter comes up, you hear the same names. Some are our own people and perhaps that is why people get released as soon as they are arrested.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so bad that when we print tickets on a Saturday, by Sunday afternoon, the fake tickets are already in circulation. This people are so connected it is difficult to nab them,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n AFC Leopards acting Chief Executive Officer\u00a0 Richard Ekhalie said the club loses about Sh100,000 at the gates for every home game.<\/p>\n The national team has not been spared either. According to Elly Mukolwe a Football Kenya Federation (FKF) executive committee member, last year a man was arrested selling fake tickets at Nyayo National Stadium during a Harambee Stars match against South Africa.<\/p>\n \u201cWe arrested him and took him to the Nyayo Stadium police station but because we wanted him to lead us to his accomplices, we did not press charges. We have never experienced a similar thing again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But even then, a lot of money is still lost at the gates during national team matches as unscrupulous security men collude with fans to enter into the stadium for free or for less than half of the stipulated charges.<\/p>\n As a rule, the Sports Stadia Management Board (SSMB) usually retains 20 per cent of the gate collections but still charge for use of the facility.<\/p>\n Tickets for Tusker match to be printed abroad<\/strong><\/p>\n According to an article in futaa.com, the club has taken steps to curtail counterfeiting. The tickets for the Tusker match will be printed abroad will have special security features, which according to Gor Mahia boss George Bwana are impossible to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\u00a0\u201cWe have managed to deal with the issue of fake tickets to a large extent but we still have crooked security officials at the gate allowing people to get in for less than the stipulated gate charges, or without tickets. In this way we lose about 20 per cent of our expected revenues,\u201d he confirmed.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t \n\t\t\t <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t