Kenya Football .:. Story - Yet Another Mariga Rumour Shames Kenya

By Francis Gaitho.
Editor, KenyaFootball.com

It is now the fifth transfer window since Mariga rumors emerged, but surprisingly this time round, the local media jumped on it in full knowledge of the fact that his has become stale news on the net.

Let it be known that as of last year, KenyaFootball.com publicly revealed that we had ceased any reporting on Mariga transfer after it emerged that most of it was fabricated quoting dubious sources. In one instance, a credible news site in Italy had quoted a certain “Ray Elkaan” as the President of Juventus expressing interest in Mariga.

The piece was picked by Kenyan media and wired to Goal.com, who then received complaints from Juventus prompting an instant blackout. Now the suspect was a UK Tabloid Daily Mail which fell victim to the vicious rumors.

While it is no doubt that Mariga is an excellent player, Kenya’s best to be precise, there is no justification for the false reporting attributed to him. His agent has been a main suspect.

In the real sense, some of us have been in professional football for years now, and no international deal revolving around Kenyan Football can happen without our knowledge. For instance, the last two friendlies procured for the Harambee Stars through FKL have been brokered by Hat Trick Sports, a Dubai-based firm which gave FKL Chairman Mohammed Hatimy US$ 5,000.00 in net appearance fees. Hatimy has ofcourse pocketed the money, whilst bragging to journalists that he is a wealthy businessman owning ships in the coast, yet he loots pennies from FKL coffers.

(Pictured: Mac Donald Mariga pictured while at Parma).

In our years of vast travel and connections in Football, we have also been duped, one case being of a certain so-called player in France. It is nothing new because nearly all media houses in Europe have fallen prey to brokers trying to manipulate the value of a player by providing false reports. With the emergence of the internet, the vice has become virtually entrenched.

When Michael Essien was transferring from F.C. Lyon to Chelsea, the owner of Liberty Pro’s F.C Alhaji Sy Tetteh who developed the player was in the country, offering me up-to-date progress of the historic move. At some point we even talked with the player in England. Infact, I even did an interview with him and he noted that Mariga was a promising young Kenyan player, posted on this site, and even ran on local media. That was in 2005, while Mariga was still struggling in Sweden after his former agent made some bad calls on him, because some of you may not know but this young man has really struggled and been conned.

Once a player has been identified, and the deal is reached, a player goes for a medical with the club announcing the move.

In the unlikely event that he may be denied a work-permit, the club which has acquired him, may opt to bench him or give him out on loan to another league, case in point being Angola’s Manucho. The same had applied also to Michael Essien before he even set foot to France, because his first trials was at Manchester United. Also loaned to Greece.

It may be big news that Mariga was denied a work-permit based on our low FIFA-rankings, but I tend to disagree because when Benjani Mwaruwari moved from Auxerre F.C to the EPL, Zimbabwe didn’t have an impeccable ranking. It should be clear that if a club wants any player be he be from Somalia, they can get him. They have all the means, because clubs in UK sway public opinion and have influence over any Government institution.

So if say, the news was credible, Mariga should have been signed by Man-City and given on loan to F.C. Panathanaikos in Greeceon the lower side.

Even when Mariga himself was moving from Sweden and Italy, our ranking at the time could not allow him to play in that top-league, but Parma somehow managed to maneuver through the red-tape, because it is very simple; once you have played in Europe for over two (2) seasons, you can play in any league. If you are exceptionally good, you can move immediately!

So rather than blame Kenya’s FIFA rankings for starters, it would be good to assess as to why the news emerged in the first place. Nobody asked Mariga to go for the trials, or lose the work-permit; it is a matter of his own initiative. Had the news gone quiet waiting for the final day, as it was when he was moving from Helsingborgs F.C to Parma, then nobody would be complaining, because everyone feels like they have been deceived.

But the person to blame in this whole fiasco is his agent, who has become notorious for manipulative press reports. Had he chosen to keep quiet and do his business in a humane manner like all other agents, no scandal would have emerged. As it stands, Kenya cannot withstand another bad rumor like this!

The fact that nobody in his close family was in Europe during the so-called “negotiations” further compounds the situation. The time Oliech was moving from Al Arabi to Nantes, his brother Nixon Onywanda was with him in France during negotiation. Ask me because I know and not because Oliech told me, because I don’t speak to him. His agent Jean-Christophe Thourvnell is a credible broker.

To add onto it, if the player was to get a UK Work Permit, he should have first traveled to Kenya to the British High Commission. The same happened to Dennis Oliech who had landed an invite to Hull FC while it was still in the 2nd Div before being snapped up by Auxerre and also Denis Odhiambo formerly Thika United, who plays in South Africa's University of Pretoria. Oliech failed to make it for the Trials at Hull FC due to the fact that the British High Commission in Nairobi sabotaged him and delayed his visa. It was during the point where Nantes was relegated and thus he opted for AJA, before the expiry of the transfer window. Odhiambo after successfully completing trials had to obligatorily come back to Kenya and finalize his work-permit details with the SA Embassy in Nairobi.

It is clear that someone faked the story of Man-City based on some little information to influence a higher bid from Inter-Milan who were their main targets.