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<\/p>\nNew reports today suggest that yet again there is trouble in the Gor Mahia camp due to non-payment of salaries. This time the players have not only staged a go slow, but they have skipped training and gone on strike.
\n\u201cWe have done our part but the office is letting us down by not paying us on time. Last Sunday, after the match against KCB, no one talked to us about this issues and we agreed to go on strike on Tuesday (yesterday),\u201d a player said to the Standard.<\/p>\n
The player said they are disappointed by the fact that while the club officials received Sh2 million as prize money for finishing runners-up in the CECAFA Cup, the players have not received any money. This leaves fans quizzical because Gor Mahia’s travel expenses were paid for by a combination of the Harambee money raised before the tournament and funds from the Ministry of sports. CECAFA paid for hotel expenses. So where has the prize money gone?
\nAnd this comes a day before they are due to play Ushuru FC in a midweek encounter scheduled for Wednesday 4pm at City stadium.
\nAsked whether they will turn up for today\u2019s fixture, the player said:
\n\u201cThe game is not even on our minds. We are more focused on getting paid and we are therefore disappointed that no one has even bothered to talk to us.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the SACCO project was officially launched, this column wrote an article stating that Gor Mahia officials typically just launch new initiatives then sit back and expect fans to come forward with money. They do not promote the initiatives and rarely\u00a0 do they persuade fans by being accountable and transparent with funds. In fact one current official was brazen enough to state “Transparency is for members only”.<\/p>\n
This is comical when you consider that many fans who have not contributed their hard earned money are hesitating precisely because they want to see transparency first. The fans have been asking for transparency for so long that many are tired of mentioning it.<\/p>\n
The Gor Biro bread was launched with a lot of fanfare. But since then, it has not been promoted by the club at all.\u00a0 And the club has not seen it fit to update fans on how much money was raised. The last report came one month after it was launched and it stated that Gor Mahia had only received Ksh 60,000 which falls far short of projections. Yet the club has still not seen it fit to promote the sales of the bread.<\/p>\n
The SACCO was launched with what seemed like a high level of professionalism with corporate bigwigs put in charge. But that too has become moribund because the club stopped promoting it or persuading fans to join. The management team appointed to run the SACCO us hardly active in encouraging fans to join. At the very least they could produce audited accounts showing how much has been collected and how much has been disbursed to the club. This alone would encourage many more fans to join the SACCO<\/p>\n
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The 350100 paybill number, which started with a lot of promise, is hardly promoted and the club no longer accounts for whatever money they receive.\u00a0 Other initiatives like membership drives were also launched and left moribund, not to mention merchandize sales which are basically non-existent.\u00a0 The latter is a starke contrast from 2010 when Gor Mahia jerseys were selling at a break neck pace.<\/p>\n
So for the umpteenth time, players have gone on strike due to unpaid salaries.<\/p>\n