KPLC withdraws from Western Stima partnership

The financial woes bedeviling Kenyan Premier League (KPL) teams appear to be far from over, with Wstern Stima being the latest casualty after the Kenya power and Lighting Company (KPLC) announced termination of their partnership on Tuesday.

Club chairperson Laban Jobita has confirmed to Citizen digital that KPLC has withdrawn all sporting activities from its diary hence dropping the sponsorship of the Western Kenya KPL side.

‘’I can only confirm that Kenya Power has withdrawn all sports sponsorship from its diary. I am not in a position to divulge more details as at now,’’ said Jobita.

The development comes as a shock to Western Stima who are currently seventh on the KPL log, having enjoyed the partnership by the power men for a long time.

Jobita could not as well tell how the club will immediately react to the withdrawal, which threatens their basic activities including attending matches.

On a different development, club head coach Salim Babu has bagged his second KPL Coach of the Month Award this season after beating Tusker tactician Robert Matano for the December gong.

Both coaches won three games and drew once in the month of December 2019, but Babu’s goal haul gave him advantage over Matano.

Stima scored 10 goals and conceded four goals playing against Nzoia Sugar, Zoo, Chemelil Sugar and Sofapaka while Tusker scored half what Stima managed while conceding just two.

Babu pocketed Sh 75000 courtesy of Fidelity Insurance to become the third tactician to win more than two of the monthly gongs since its inception five years ago.

“I’m glad this is happening again this season and I want to thank my family and teams for enabling me to win this award. December was very competitive and I must say we really did our best to win the games that we played,” Babu said during the award presentation at the Moi Stadium, Kisumu.

However, Babu expressed his frustration that Stima is not in the top five clubs in the KPL standings, noting he believes the team is capable of fighting for the league title.

However, the loss of sponsorship could spell a difficult period for the side, in the remaining part of the 2019/20 season.