Be ready for tough court battle, Rachier, Shikanda warn FKF

Gor Mahia are engaging their lawyers to advise on the way forward following sanctions imposed on the club by the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) for snubbing league derby against rivals AFC Leopards on Saturday, chairman Ambrose Rachier has said.

FKF on Sunday slapped Gor with a Sh.4 million fine, as Rachier was also suspended for the defiance against the federation.

His AFC Leopards counterpart Dan Shikanda was suspended too, and his club fined Sh. 6 million as they were the hosts of the boycotted match.

But according to Rachier, it was unfair for the federation to sanction them before being heard, having lodged “a genuine concern” to the football governing body.

“Our lawyers are on this matter and very soon we will take the necessary action. How can you sanction anyone anywhere in the world without giving them a chance to be heard? Which law is that and where does it apply?’’

Rachier further said players were on their neck demanding for their FKF Cup money, and were forced to demonstrate in the loudest voice that the money had not been released by the federation. This, was by snubbing the highly billed derby.

“Our players believe that we already received the money, we had no otherwise. It was a genuine plea but our right was met with harsh sanctions. We are not going to relent and are only waiting for our legal team to advise,’’ explained Rachier.

The long serving Gor administrator has blamed FKF president Nick Mwendwa for what he calls intimidation, saying he will not bow to it.

“We have bills to pay. Other than the Sh. 2 million (for winning the FKF Cup), the federation owes us more monies from the title sponsors. Why are they keeping this money a month on? Let them release our money.’’

Derby value

In the recent past, high profile players including midfielder Kenneth Muguna and defender Charles Momanyi have decamped to other clubs over non-payment of salaries.

The two ditched the club for Tanzania’s Azam and Kenyan side Tusker FC respectively.

On his part, Leopards chairman Dan Shikanda has told Mwendwa to prepare himself for a fierce battle calling it a “sweet case.”

According to Shikanda, Leopards and Gor have committed no crime to warrant such penalties.

“When you say you have charged us Sh 6 million, is that a fine or a compensation and to who? What kind of a fine is this and for what crime have we done? Compensation, who are we compensating? We talked to StarTimes and told them we were not going to honour the derby for they have not paid us our money for two months and that’s a breach of contract.

“How can you tell us we have breached the contract and yet you were the one who started it all,” questioned Shikanda, adding that Mwendwa has started “a sweet case and they are ready to deal with him.”

Ingwe chairman also confirmed that the club National Executive Committee (NEC) convened a meeting Monday evening to deliberate on which decision to take in retaliation to the FKF’s sanctions yesterday.

“We met as NEC to deliberate on what decision to take in regards to our money and what he (Nick Mwendwa) had told our players that he had already paid us the money for the FKF Cup final. I’m shocked to know today that our derby is valued at Sh. 10m and yet they usually give us only Sh. 200,000 per game,” Shikanda concluded.

Report by Milton Ochieng and Godfrey Ashiali.