Irony of Stars sharp performance amidst sloppy off field handling

What you need to know:

  • The stars took the habitual 16-hour flight around the world, sleeping in airports lounges while waiting for connecting flights just to Cairo
  • The debacle of accommodation in Alexandria was the last nail in the coffin of good performance but the Egyptian Sports Minister spoiled it by intervening
  • The tiff between the FKF and the Principle Secretary for Sports is getting murky and ugly by the day

Whenever Harambee Stars jet out of the country, all Kenyans are sure to wring their hands and cross their fingers in sure expectation of something shameful happening.

The trip to Egypt was no exception last week. The stars took the habitual 16-hour flight around the world, sleeping in airports lounges while waiting for connecting flights just to Cairo.

They could have taken a five-hour direct flight to Egypt, but that is not the way things are done in Kenya. The players — in the wisdom of both the sports ministry and the great Football Kenya Federation — must get horrible jet lags and muscle cramps to do well in their game. Their discomfort is a great strength it seems.

When they reached Alexandria, the officials noted that the boys’ morale was still intact. They were shocked and thus decided to dampen this monster; they did this by throwing in spanners to the works.

The debacle of accommodation in Alexandria was the last nail in the coffin of good performance but the Egyptian Sports Minister — at least they have a ministry there — spoiled it by intervening. In the end, the boys performed well against the feared Pharaohs!

One may think this is ironical but look at it closely dear Kenyan, and tell me how else one can explain this persistent sloppiness of those tasked with running sports in this country? How else can we see it?

After the shameful venture that is our trademark, the boys took another 16-hour flight to Nairobi where they were welcomed by the same people who made their outing miserable. The same rough creatures had the cheek to give some hair raising speeches exonerating themselves from their acts!

Tonight, the Stars are again playing Togo in the qualifier at Kasarani. We do not know what wet blankets they have been donning in their camp. We do wish them well and perhaps in spite of all the odds stacked against them, they will still be able to surmount.

It is not easy to keep quarrelling against the gods of sports in this country when we already know how they will act. We even already suspect that the boys will go to Togo for the return match in a Miraa transporting plane as they did some time back when going to Cape Verde.

The tiff between the FKF and the Principle Secretary for Sports is getting murky and ugly by the day. Accusations are levelled right left and centre; fingers are pointed in all directions and each is pretending to have a halo hovering on their empty heads.

This thing must stop or else the antagonists should just resign or disappear into thin air.

If it is reconciliation of accounts, let it be done and if there are any disparities, some people should be in prison. Otherwise, for the time being each must do his job and that job should only be for the advantage of the team.