Breakthrough in Gor-Walusimbi impasse in sight as club’s bank account overflows

The football gods are seemingly smiling generously at Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia.

You see,  just last week, they went into the annals of history books by becoming the first Kenyan outfit to qualify for the group stages of the Caf-Confederations Cup. As if that is not enough, their heroics came with a colossal Sh 26.7 million to boot.

This money, of course, makes their bank accounts healthier. But, even before they could end their celebrations, they were at Kenyatta Stadium, Machakos, their adopted home ground where they made light work of Thika United in a crushing 5-2 victory.

To crown it all, in what has been a God-send week, they gleefully watched as the taps on their financial well flowed freely after a gaming firm committed to pumping a cool Sh.66 million to their bulging account yearly. Figure out that!

And with the monies now coming from every corner, the club is optimistic that the ‘small issue’ touching on the sign-on-fee of utility man Godfrey Walusimbi will be a thing of the past.

In fact, club chief executive officer  Ludovick Aduda has promised to have the matter sorted out by the end of the week.

This, in essence, means that the auxiliary attacker will soon be available for selection in league matches and even the rigorous battle frontier they have opened up in Africa.

The utility Ugandan international has boycotted duty at K’Ogalo for a month, demanding to be paid his remaining sign-on-fee of $10,000(around Sh.1 million) that was due soon after extending his contract at the club in December 2017.

Walusimbi penned a two-year deal with Gor on December 21, his agents agreeing with the club to be paid in full a cool $ 30,000(Sh 3 million) by February 22 this year.

However, by the deadline, Gor had only paid $ 20,000(Sh.2 million) against the agreement. Part of the contract read: “The club shall pay the player $ 30,000 as a sign-on-fee in full amount not on Kenyan Shillings on 22nd day of April, 2018. Failure to do so will make the player a free agent,” the contract read.

It is on this ground that Walusimbi refused to play, later revealing the agency that struck the deal with the Gor was on his neck.

“I have been forced to pay the agency $ 2,000 using my money after the delay to honour the agreement. The problem is chairman Ambrose Rachier halted communication between me and him.  He has been ignoring my calls, because I wanted him to talk to the agency for transparency purposes. It has left me in an awkward situation because playing and passion for the game does not bring food on table, unless it is duly rewarded,” the player told a Ugandan journal a week ago.

However, in an exclusive interview with Citizen Digital on Monday, Aduda said time to break the impasse has finally come.

“I can assure you by the end of this week, we will have sorted out everything. This is a money matter, and there is evey signal we are in position to deal with it and have him (Walusimbi) back,” Aduda stated.

Initially, Rachier ha  said the only way he would pay him was by first returning to training.

The experienced Ugandan shocked Gor fans when he refused to travel to Tunisia during their second leg clash in the CAF-Champions League against giants Esperance in March.

K’Ogalo went on to lose the match 1-0, a score that a section of players feel could have been different had Walusimbi been present.

“We really need him back. When you are playing at this level you can’t afford to lose experienced players like Walusimbi if you are in position to solve their issues.

“We have missed him in these matches although the players who have taken his usual position have fought worthily,” captain Harun Shakava said immediately after their CAF-Confederations Cup group stage qualification last week.

His counterpart Meddie Kagere was quick to note the need for full-strength squad ahead of the daunting task.

“We struggled in Tunisia despite giving our best, then came Pretoria which was more difficult than we expected. Of course the visa issue kept Jacques Tuyisenge and Ephrem Guikan out, while Ernest Wendo was suspended. When you are missing such players then another one of Walusimbi’s experience misses out, you can’t help feeling it should have been better had it been solved,” Kagere noted.

Gor received financial boost by the return of their gaming firm sponsor that had walked away citing unfriendly business environment, while CAF is expected to inject a whopping Ksh. 27.6 million for the Confederations Cup group stage qualification.