Harambee Stars players were ‘set up’ to have sex in training camp

 Harambee Stars after training at City Stadium

There was this magistrate who made an interesting ruling in a case where a man took his employer to court for wrongful dismissal. The man was a teller at a local bank and had been sacked for being drunk, disorderly and insulting his manager. 

Apparently, the bank threw an end-year staff party where, as was the custom, alcohol, music and food flowed freely. Everything was ‘on the house.’ Being a typical Kenyan, the man imbibed enough froth for that Dutch courage that propelled him to issue a few choice words to his mdosi.

He challenged him to a verbal exchange, tug of war and even boxing duel. The boss was all calm and collected. Colleagues tried to cool him in vain. Of course, that short time of bravado earned him a ‘straight red card ‘ and come Monday, a dismissal letter was waiting at the reception.

Sober and smarter, the guy consulted his lawyer. When the case came up for hearing, the magistrate looked surprised. He could not understand how an employer can invite staff to a beer-drinking party then assume they were drinking uji and would not get drunk. He also wondered how the employer sacked him after ‘inducing and leading him to commit the offence.’ The magistrate said the employer was obviously on the wrong since people have different capacity for absorbing alcohol and the offender was therefore a victim of circumstances created by the employer. The plaintiff was right to sue and was re-instated.

This case is similar to the Harambee Stars one where coach Bobby Williamson accused some players of taking alcohol and inviting girls while in camp. The so-called camp is located next to the noisiest bus stop in Nairobi West along Langa’ta Road.

It is surrounded by seven hostels housing college girls and recently-employed women jobbers. Next door is another famous ‘camp’ where alcohol is consumed for breakfast, lunch and supper. Add hawkers selling anything from condoms to simis, nyahunyos and pirated DVDs. Across the road is a 24-hour pub at a petrol station.

In such a camp, how did anyone expect young Harambee Stars players to win against Zambia’s Chipolopolo who ‘camped’ in Europe for the match? 

Camping in days of yore was always a serious matter for both club and country. Just why the choice of camping location is very important and should be guided by several parameters like distance from intruders, security, facilities like gymnasium, massage and physiotherapy. A functioning cafeteria and good boarding quarters are a must.

The reason why Harambee Stars performed better than they do today was because they camped at the Kenya School of Government (formerly Kenya Institute of Administration), Kenya Science Teachers College or Kenya School of Monetary Studies.

Alternatively, they practised in these institutions, but stayed in up-market hotels. All these places are not easily accessible by riffraff. Throw in some mean-looking Administration Policemen at the gates and you get what I mean by keeping night girls away from our sportsmen.

Some community clubs even engaged the services of youths or club scouts to ensure players do not stray from camp.  K’Ogalo scouts one night carried crude weapons and moved from pub to pub in Eastleigh searching for two popular players who had sneaked from camp and were spotted in ‘Mateso Bila Chuki,’ then a popular joint in the area.

You would have thought it was a serious msako. Their intention was to ‘discipline’ the girls and frogmarch the players back to camp. Luckily, the players had moles who alerted them.

The fear of being caught and the love of the club would make players avoid many things as fans would not allow them to be the ‘weak link’ for the community club. Harambee Stars may not attract such self-styled bodyguards, but at least the management can ensure players are ‘police-marked’ by the team’s backroom staff, CCTV, GPRS you name it.

The late Apollo Ndeda, long-time Harambee Stars team manager must be turning in his grave at how modern-day managers are poor at ‘police-marking’ the boys.