Former Gor Mahia forward Dan Makori as well as experienced stakeholders in Kenyan football spoke boldly on match-fixing in the FKF-PL
Former Gor Mahia forward Dan Makori and Nairobi City Stars Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Patrick Korir spoke on the challenges in Kenyan football. A standout problem that could dent the current rise of sports in the country is the match-fixing allegations.
Despite the Kenya Footballers Welfare Association (KEFWA) Education Officer, a former Gor Mahia forward, Dan Makori noted that proving match-fixing could be ‘very difficult’, and highlighted the challenges of the Kenyan footballer saying they are easy targets since their welfare is not placed in good consideration.
“And then it is not only the players alone. Match-fixing happens even to the club officials. They can approach a CEO who lacks integrity,” Makori said in an interview on NTV’s SportOn!,
“The CEO is the owner of the team, he can just call the coach and tell him to try what he can for them to lose the match. So anybody can fix a match, they just don’t use the players alone,”he said.
Currently, 17 people including coaches and players have been suspended by FKF for alleged involvement in match-fixing. A few of those banned include defender Lennox Ogutu and midfielder Alphonce Ndonye of Mathare United, ex-Gor Mahia goalkeeper Willis Ochieng, Zoo Kericho FC players; Hamidu Kwizera Lucas and Vincent Misikhu.
During the interview, Nairobi City Stars CEO Patrick Korir revealed that a man posing as the head of a Turkish betting organization contacted him over WhatApp and attempted to convince him to share the contest’s results with him beforehand so that they could include the match on their betting platform. He noted, “It is that easy (to convince players or club officials to fix matches)”.
According to Korir, match-fixing became rampant in Kenya under the FKF Caretaker Committee’s tenure in 2021 and 2022 since matches were not being watched or monitored.
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