Can I Get An Amen?

* Click on Image to enlarge
** Ingwe Fan apologizes to all those with religious sensibilities.

1] THEN the twenty years of plenty came to an end, and twenty years of famine set in. 2] The land was barren and nothing flourished, and no glory came upon the Ingwelites. 3] And the Ingwelites saw the glory of their neighbours in the West, the K’Ogalost Ones, and they saw the wealth of the Sofapakans in the south, who were mainly Congolites from the house of Kalekwa. 4] Then the Ingwelites suffered bitterly, and grievously did they pity themselves. 5] And the people came unto the Lawd, wailing and rending their blue and white garments, which were made by Legea. 6] And the Lawd said, “Why are you come before me, crying and wailing? Wherefore do you rend your garments that are made in China?” 7] And the people cried, “Behold, O Lawd, we suffer bitterly, like Munronites. 8] For Thou hast brought wealth upon the Sofapakans and almost glory to the K’Ogalost Ones up the road; but in Thy anger Thou hast forsaken us Ingwelites, what were once blessed in Thy sight and that.” 9] But the Lawd replied, “How is it that I have forsaken you, when I have poured such bounty upon your heads?” 10] But the people looked about them and saw no riches, nor the shining trophies of battle. And they protested unto the Lawd, “Where is this bounty then, O Lawd, of which thou speakest?” 11] And the Lawd replied, “Yea, the bounty of the Lawd is as the rain, that is drained into the sounds of the desert. For it is all gone like the likes of Harry the Gentle.” 12] But the people wept, and they no longer had faith I the Lawd, and banished Him from their sight. 13] And the Lawd went from that place, and three new Lawds came from far away in the West. 14] And the new Lawds said They would lead the people to salvation. 15] Then the people bent over them, and were overjoyed, and they raised their voices in praise, saying, “We’re proper sorted, no la. We’re gonna win the league.” 16] Now it had come to pass in this time that they greatly exalted the prophet Magelo, who was their leader. 17] For under his rule they fought a battle of many clubs, and in the lads of Bayusuf, they strove against the Congoweans. 18] And lo, though they were almost destroyed, they fought back and vanquished the enemy, thanks to Imbem. 19] Then the Ingwelites made an idol of Magelo, and cried out that he was the savior, and by his mighty sword they would come forth in the land. 20] But in the end they came thirteenth. 21] When they saw the might of the Ingwelites was nigh restored all the clubs trembled. 22] But the King of the K’Ogalost Ones did not tremble: he was crafty, and in his wisdom he sent madness upon Magelo. 23] Then Magelo became a man who dreams, speaking in tongues and visions. 24] And he squandered the opportunity given to him to govern by resigning. 25] And then a Prophet called Ochiel emerged and took over amidst confusion. The people rejoiced. 26] And he squandered the wealth of the people on lame and useless servants. For he brought to their camp Masika Omar, Onyango Daniel and JMJ the Belgianite. 27] And soon Ochiel feared to venture firth, lest he be vanguished, but exhorted his servants only to defend the camp. 28] Then all the Ingwelites came to loathe Ochiel, because he was so boring. 29] So the people came before the Lawds and said, “Why don’t Ye giz some backers for Ochiel, who had fired Makokha, so that he may bring further glory to the people?” 30] And the Lawds replied, “Behold, we have given him millions and millions of Sugar Mummies Shillings. But in his madness, he spent it on Muyoti and Tostao the one they call Emmanuel. And lo, he squandered it on Kasaya. Now the bounty of the Lawds is gone, for he hath spunked it on absolute garbage.” 31] But the people were not satisfied, and they wrote screeds of righteous indignation on the Facebook Branch, and kept calling him Gbagbo the Pirate! 32] So the Lawds called elections, and up sprang Kituyi with the return of Magelo whose outstretched arm could be seen on a rebel website. 33] But the people were in mourning for some of the servants who had been chased away; they loved them greatly and pitied them. And they did pity also themselves. 34] They also loved Magelo for not belonging to their tribe. They were blind to his madness, seeing only his triumph against the Congoweans years before. 35] And Ochiel held firm after the spate of mad elections that were always disrupted. 36] And the people went berserk, and threatened to come into the House of the Lawds and do them harm. 37] And it came to pass that They were skint, and soon the Sugar Mummies drove Them from the temple. 38] And so yet another Lawd came among the Ingwelites. 39] Then the people rejoiced, and cried, “Right, this time we are pure sorted, la. We’re gonna win the league.” 40] And there was laughter across the land.

New Kit Unveiled 2011

The new kit to be used by the team in the 2011 season has been unveiled, just a day after the aborted elections.

In keeping with tradition, the Chair did not smile at the unveiling...

... just like his predecessor did not on 9th December 2008.

Some fans are elated by the new kit, some deflated.

The Leopards have seemingly followed the trend by other teams to alternate their hoops for stripes as Bayern Munich did in the past two seasons.

And since we are talking about the Leopards new spots, you can also spot the differences in the kit.

H for Hoops and S for Stripes

Kit Sponsor: H - Terrible         S  - Cool              Score: 0-1
Club Crest: H - Cool               S  - Terrible         Score: 1-0
Club Motto: H - Cool              S - Cool               Score: 1-1
Shirt Sponsor: H - Terrible      S - Cool               Score: 0-1
Shirt Design: H - Cool            S - Terrible           Score: 1-0 

Oh well... it is a tie. But it really doesn't matter., What matters most is if the team can beat its opponents on the pitch. That should be the focus of us all.

Catfights!

A few days ago, the Daily Nation in its Sports Briefs, alluded to the fact that our team was rocked with catfight after catfight.

Perhaps the biggest cat fight took place today when the elections that were scheduled to be held today aborted after a fight broke out between some of the voters at the election venue.

This was what was expected and predicted days before the elections by your blogger.

Attention was not heeded and in fact one of the queries that erupted during today's Annual General Meeting was whether some of the voters were authorized to vote. Fearing that one candidate would win the race for the Chairman, which was the most sought after position, it appears that chaos reigned at the venue necessitating the use of tear gas to be used. 


The new constitution may also not have been adopted.

As indicated before, elections were NEVER a priority unless structures were put in place to stop any vote stealing. Holding a credible election is not as easy as cobbling up six individuals and making them an Electoral Board. The same Board had appointees of the candidates and were always going to be partisan, which is why one of the earliest decisions was to agree on a low membership fee.


The equation is very simple: Low Membership Fees = Higher Number of Voters.

We shall not dignify the events of today by calling those who took part in the chaos as fans.

Because how hard can it be to go to an election and tick the ballot for the candidate for Chairman you wish to elect?

Or Secretary?

But rather predictably, there will be calls by some fans for Mumias Sugar to take some sort of action forgetting that Mumias Sugar is not the owner of Leopards. They are just sponsors. They were not even supposed to have been arbitrators in this whole fiasco buy fans urged them on to play the dual role of Big Brother and Sugar Mummy. We will not learn from the events but will swiftly want to address them with stop gap measures.


Leopards elections have always been 'catfights' with some bitter rivalries churned out over the years. But we always maintained our civility. Elections were held in places such as Kaloleni Social Hall in the 1970s and the incumbent officials always handed over to the winners.


In 1984 for instance, Alfred Sambu took over at a peaceful election that was held on 30th December 1984 at the City Stadium. The news was headline news in the Daily Nation of the following day. That is how important and credible our elections were. Sammy Obingo was the returning officer and the then Chairman had gone though the motions of the Annual general Meeting including presenting his Report to the members.


Each elections always made news

So much that even sometimes, one would reject being elected Chairman as Sambu did when he felt that Wafula Wa Musamia's election to the Executive Commitee was the work of his rivals. Imagine that! An elected Chairman willingly giving up his position.


There have also been times when take-overs have happened like in 2002.

But what is needed is men and women of goodwill. People who can lose fair and square at an election. People who as incumbents can hand over to the winners. And winners who also have to be credible, not winners who have transported voters to the election venue. Unless this happens, the credibility of the club will continue to take a dent from interested fans who will see it as a den of politics and confusion.


You cannot attract fans if you go around shouting 'Maasai Must Go'  as an electioneering slogan. You cannot also attract goodwill when you are openly ferrying persons whom if you asked whom the current Captain of Leopards is cannot tell you for certainty because they are not fans but voters for the day.

Photo Credit: Samuel Eyinda - FB Branch

It is an issue of integrity and we fans have to ask ourselves those hard questions despite the camps to which we belong. Is our candidate a person of integrity? Ochiel, Kituyi, Magelo, Asembo and so on?

 

The Final Push

With elections set for Sunday 13th, February 2010 the candidates have been all over making a push for their agenda. We have heard them on the radio, especially Radio Jambo; we have seen them on TV, especially Citizen TV

We have read about them on Facebook as their foot soldiers urge us to vote for them.

We also saw the Magelo allied afcleopards.net sensing victory for their candidate in a hurriedly written piece with the memorable line: He did what many Luhyia politicials who wont to claim honourship of the club cound not do. 

We have also seen the newspapers profiling the elections in detail especially in the Star.

And the Star again!

And the Standard even gave it a full page!

Part of the profiles were detailed here by the Standard:-

ALEX OLE MAGELO

Alex ole Magelo believes his neutrality will be key in reviving the fortunes of AFC Leopards if elected as chairman tomorrow. Speaking to FeverPitch yesterday, Magelo outlined his vision saying his record, as an official of Leopards is trophy-laden.

"We cannot twist the history of AFC Leopards, and we cannot also deny that AFC Leopards is the only team that has national and international outlook. Given the bickering occasioned by sectionalism in this club, I believe I’m the unifying factor, the link that this great club needs. That is why I have put myself forward to be elected chairman," Magelo said.

The former chairman said he would reach out to all the voices that want to see Leopards regain its lost glory. "When AFC was relegated, many who pretend to shed tears for Ingwe abandoned it. It took a young man (Gilbert Selebwa) and other friends to reach out to us. Today we have Leopards. It is only fair that my team is given a chance to retrace the steps we had made that enabled the team to play continental football since 2002," Magelo said.

Dream team

NAME: Alex Ole Magelo

POSITION CONTESTED: Chairman

Magelo’s Team: Chairman: Magelo

Vice-Chair: George Wesonga

Sec Gen: Josphat Bukachi

Treasurer: Patrick Keyonzo

Asst Treasurer: Duncan Angode

Org Secretary: Timothy Lilumbi

Achievements: As assistant Sec Gen, AFC won: Cecafa Club Champions 1997

KPL in 1998, Moi Golden Cup 2001

As Chairman: AFC regained KPL status in 2008

— Won FK Cup in 2009

— Introduced concept of replica jerseys and assorted items for fans

— Set up club website

— United fans and initiated membership registration that hit 10,000 people

Immediate Goals:

—Unity: Too much energy is pulling in different directions

—Assemble the best technical bench and give it a freehand

— Ensure we have a very disciplined playing Unit

Long Term

—Build a strong unit by developing players through satellite clubs

　

WINSTONE KITUYI

Businessman Winstone Khisa Kituyi will tomorrow be seeking votes to lead 12 times local league champions AFC Leopards. He says his most urgent move if elected would be to turn the club into a public outfit. 

He said he planned launch countrywide registration of members to ensure that Leopards had at least four million members. He also plans to re organise the structures of the club, which he believes have collapsed.

"I am looking at a situation where if four million members own AFC Leopards, we will not experience the problems the club has undergone. I believe the club needs to generate funds to run itself even without sponsorships in future. If I am elected chairman, the most urgent thing I would do is turn the club from a club owned by individuals into a public club," said Kituyi. 

He said: "I would also ensure we have branches all over the country and re-organise the club structures that have dwindled of late."

Kituyi, a large scale flower farmer, said his long term plan is to start football academies in all the 47 counties and put up a stadium for the club on its piece of land at Kasarani.

Dream team

NAME: Winstone Khisa Kituyi

POSITION CONTESTED: Chairman

Kituyi’s Team: Chairman: Kituyi

Vice-Chair: Peter Lisamula

Sec Gen: Robert Asembo

Dep Sec Gen: Geofrey Mulanya.

Treasurer: Joseph Murila

Asst Treasurer: Anthony Walela

Org Secretary: Fredrick Luta

Members: Ken Bunyasi

　

Highlights:

— Kituyi is a businessman and horticulture farmer.

— He said his long-term plan is to start football academies in the 47 counties and to help AFC Leopards put up a stadium on its land at Kasarani, Nairobi County.

— He believes the club needs to generate funds to support itself and to stop relying only on sponsorships in future.

— He forsees a situation where if four million members own AFC Leopards, the club would not have to undergo the problems it has faced.

He is out to turn the club from one owned by individuals to one owned by the public.

　

JULIUS OCHIEL

AFC Leopards chairman Julius Ochiel says he will win Sunday polls by an ‘overwhelming’ majority. Ochiel is facing a close battle for the top post from businessman Winstone Kituyi and former chairman Alex ole Magelo but he says he has done enough for the club to warrant another term.

"I have delivered on my two pledges – to give the club a new constitution and also get sponsorship. Based on this, I’m confident of being re-elected," said Ochiel, who launched a ten point manifesto to guide his campaign for the post.

Sunday polls will be most defining for the club because whoever is elected will serve for three years.

Among Ochiel’s vision is to win this year’s Kenyan Premier League title and reach the finals of the regional club championships in 2013 and make an impact in the 2014 CAF competition.

"We have put together a formidable side this season. Because of the sponsorship we have received from Mumias Sugar, the players are well motivated and this is enough reason for them to want to win the title," he said.

While lauding the Sh15m boast from Mumias, Ochiel says he intends to increase this to Sh30m by next year and to Sh35m when he leaves office.

Dream Team

Chairman : Julius Ochiel

Vice Chairman: Caroline Andisi Mayunzu

Sec Gen: Catharine Omanyo

Asst. Sec Gen:

Alutalala Mukwana

Treasurer: Amin Walji

Asst. Treasurer: Tony Luvanda

Org Sec: Frankline Imbenzi

Highlights/ Achievements

1.This is a highly youthful team with an average age of 33 .

2.For the first time, AFC top leadership is going to comprise of students for I believe the youth are the leaders of today

3.Also for the first time AFC Leopards’ top leadership will take into account gender sensitivity with a third of its top leadership being women. This of course is in line with the spirit of the country’s new Constitution.

4. I would like to remind members of my achievements as AFC Leopards chairman which include:

(i) The new constitution

(ii) Mumias Sugar’s 60 Million sponsorship over a three year period

(iii) Medical cover with AAR for both the playing unit and the technical bench

Ingwe Fan reserves his comments on this.

The Nation has the story here



It’s all systems go as AFC Leopards fraternity converge on Sunday at the Nairobi Railways club to conduct the eagerly awaited Annual General Meeting (AGM).

Twenty six candidates have been cleared to contest for posts during the exercise that will see a new office take charge for the next three years under Mumias Sugar Company (MSC) sponsorship.

Gordon Oluoch who is the chairman of elections board and also the Commissioner for Sports said it was all systems go as they are set for polls upon the deadline for registration of candidates and members that ended on Thursday February 10.

Three candidates have been cleared to go for the chairmanship post. They include the incumbent Julius Ochiel Sikalo, former chairman Alex Ole Magelo and new comer Winston Khisa Kituyi.

The vice chairman's seat has attracted three candidates who are former AFC leopards organizing Secretary Peter Lisamula, Carolyn Mayunzu and George Ojwang' Wesonga

Four candidates are in contention for the secretary general's post and they are the immediate former holder of the post Robert Asembo who got a reprieve to contest for the post after being suspended, the acting secretary general Catherine Omanyo, Josephat Jacques Bukachi and Caleb Sunguti.

Geoffrey Ekesa Mulanya and Alutala Mukhwana are the aspirants to be cleared for the deputy secretary general's post.

Amin Ashif Walji will defend his post against his sole opponent Patrick Ngaira Keyonzo.

The club's fomer treasurer Duncan Angode together with team's former secretary general Anthony Walela and Tony Luvanda will vie for the assistant treasurer's position.

Ex international and AFC Leopards former defender Josephat “Controller” Murila, former organising secretary Timothy Lilumbi and boxing promoter Franklin 'Kuka' Imbenzi will be gunning for the organising secretary's post.

Outgoing organising secretary Victor Okiya Dindi, Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Association (KSSSA) Nairobi province vice chairman Ken Bunyasi, Fredrick Luta, Melab Atemah Lumalah, Gaylord Okinda and Shem Omondi are in contention for the three committee members posts up for grabs.

The board banned the ceremonial entry of candidates where they are carried as traditional isikuti dance and songs are sang for security reasons.

Oluoch said the elections will be conducted by secret ballot and only registered members will be allowed into the venue.

“All members shall be seated by 9am when the Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be called to order. The gates will remain closed till the end of the exercise, said Oluoch.

The commissioner said members must vacate after voting and only candidates and their accredited agents will be allowed to access the ballot counting hall where every aspirant will be represented by two agents.

He said candidates and their agents will no be allowed to campaign and canvass for votes within the precincts of the venue.

“As the chairman of the elections board , I am the only one who has been empowered to announce the official results,” he said.

He warned that any person contravening the rules and regulations shall be apprehended by the elections board

Look out for the Letter to The Chairman in an upcoming blog. Ingwe Fan wishes all candidates the best of luck in the election tomorrow.

As for Ingwe Fans, we hope you have your cards ready and will choose a candidate who steers our team to greater glory!

Ingwe To Death

Today, Ingwe Fan wishes to pay respects to a fan who is not here with us today.

On 23^rd October, 2010 Franklin Onimu Kiribwa, a Leopards fan posted a message on his Facebook page to the effect:

Si tukutane stadi. Naona mtu akiiumizwa na INGWE vinoma. (Roughly translated as: Why don’t we meet at the stadium. I can foresee AFC Leopards thrashing ‘someone’ thoroughly)

The message was understood to be a message in support of AFC Leopards and that someone was a reference to Gor Mahia.

Sadly, Franklin was amongst the fans who tragically died at Nyayo National Stadium that evening when a stampede was reported to have taken place. This was widely reported in the daily newspapers, online media reports.

Portraits of victims of October 23 stampede at Nyayo National Stadium. From left: Victor Juma Okoth Otieno, David Oundo Ochieng’, Winnie Karimi Kinyua, Franklin Onimu Kiribwa and Stephen Ochieng Onyango . [PHOTO: STAFFORD ONDEGO/STANDARD

A memorial service was held on 3^rd November, 2010 as reported on the Gor Mahia website. Gor had been the home team for the tragic match.

This sad and tragic incident where a young and enthusiastic fan’s life was cut short is still fresh in the memories of Leopards fans. There are people who call themselves diehard fans of the team but you do not ever get to think that you can die hoping to watch our team as Franklin did.

This does not man of course that we are lessening the deaths of the other fans and it is on this premise that we still condole the families of the others who lost their lives that day, even if some of them may have been fans of the opposing team.

The deaths, however, did happen and though some of us may feel that it is the past, for the families of the fans who passed on, that incident will forever remain etched in their memories.

For those of us who may have interacted with Franklin and who may tear up when they see that his death is ignored by sections of the fans, we have to take courage and know that if the fans stood together and stayed focused, and learnt from the tragic death, then this death would not have been in vain.

For us remaining fans of Ingwe, we have to think positive so that such incidents do not occur. Even as we continue to support the team, we have to think about the ways in which we can assist either the families of our fellow fans who may have perished during the disaster. I do not know if any of the other persons were supporters for Leopards but at least from the Facebook  post of Franklin, we know he was one of us! 

Issues of the security of fans at the stadium need to be addressed, and if the officials of the team do not do it, then fans have a challenge to speak about it. This is a lesson that we can learn from the passing of Franklin. When people speak about Season Tickets and the need to mark the stadium for the seat allocation, it is informed by such incidences. When people say we need to own our stadium, it because this could have easily happened at a Leopards home match.

We were promised that an investigation report that was to be prepared in respect of this issue but that report has never been made public. Instead, the only report that was reported was one prepared by G4S in respect of ALL stadiums and not this particular incident.

The tragedy was raised in Parliament a Ministerial Statement issued. You can read the debate in Parliament here from page 24 to 31.

I do not wish to make this a campaign issue seeing as it is that fans are more interested in the upcoming elections. But this is merely a challenge to all of us. What can we do?

Remember, it could have been any one of us or any of our friends.

This is part of the reason why fans need to come together from across the branches and work together as one body, without saying that the fan who passed on is not from our branch. As one unified body, the fans can initiate certain programmes and activities to assist our own to supplement some 'corporate social responsibility' or the other noble causes such as assisting players who have been fired from the club.

Liverpool FC fans for instance still hold memorials for the 96 fans that also sadly lost their lives at the Hillsborough disaster.Let us keep the memory of Franklin alive.

Those who know the family of our dear brother who innocently lost his life and whose last activity was trying to watch his favourite team can also come out and let us brainstorm on how we can assist. From the media reports, it can be noted that he was from Kamobon, Hamisi (Vihiga County). If Leopards went to play in Western Kenya as they did recently or as they will when they go to play Western Stima, it would be nice if we could condole the family.

My dear Leopards fans, are we up to that challenge? Any other ideas?