The fix on Kenyan football and the confessions of a global match-fixer

“Why had I not met you before? You know exactly what you have to do and you deliver it single-handedly.”

High praise from the high priest of football match-fixing globally. 

These words are from a memoir “Kelong Kings” described by its publishers as the “ultimate tale about gambling, soccer and match-fixing, told directly by the man who made it all happen.”

Courtesy – Amazon

The man was Wilson Raj Perumal, one of the shareholders of a Singapore-based match-fixing syndicate that manipulated the outcome of football matches worldwide so as to bet on the rigged results.

Singaporean Perumal spoke as he reportedly struck a deal in 2010 with Willis Ochieng, a Kenyan goalkeeper who was then playing in the Finnish top league.

The goalkeeper is alleged to have been paid twenty-five thousand euros (6 million Kenyan shillings) to fix two games with Perumal gushing in his praise, “Willis proved to be the kind of player that match-fixers want for their business; convinced and dedicated.”

Despite the details of the deal being spelt out in Perumal’s book, football’s world governing body FIFA found the Kenyan goalkeeper had no case to answer. 

Fast forward 11years later and Willis having retired from active professional football now works as a goalkeeper trainer in the Kenyan Premier league (KPL). 

For the last 4 years he had been tasked with sharing his skills with the goalkeepers of KPL defending champions Gor Mahia. 

How a player whose name on Google search reveals his match-fixing past was not only able find work in the KPL but on the technical bench of the perennial champions should be cause for concern. 

Pool – Sportspesa news

39-year old Willis, born and bred in the slums of Mathare in Nairobi and known in football circles as Awilo resigned his position at Gor Mahia last month claiming his abrupt departure was because he had not been paid for 14 months.

However, his exit coincided with a probe instigated by Gor’s officials to investigate whether a string of poor results by the team was as a result of some players and technical officials being involved in match-fixing.

Willis continues to plead his innocence but Kenyan football lost its innocence long ago. 

As far back as 2009 Perumal had an association with officials in the Kenyan football federation (FKF). Through his wheeler-dealing national football teams participated in tournaments across the globe that are mentioned in “Kelong Kings” as having being manipulated for financial gain.

The dalliance culminated in the fixing of Kenya’s 2010 World Cup qualifier against Nigeria that eventually saw defender George “Wise” Owino banned for 10 years from all football related activities by FIFA and handed a hefty fine.

In February 2020, FIFA banned four East African players for manipulation of matches during the 2019 KPL season. This as dubious Singaporean companies purported to sponsor teams in the KPL with a curious provision that they be allowed to introduce players – normally defenders and goalkeepers – into the teams. As recently as January 2021, a Ugandan was arrested in Kisumu allegedly trying to fix a KPL match pitting Western Stima against KCB. 

European betting is mostly premised on results: win, draw or loss but Asian betting is more about goals scored, conceded and at what time.  This makes it harder to detect a match that is being manipulated especially in a league setting.

According to “Kelong Kings”, “if you have a league club, you let it play, because this is your chicken that’s going to give you an egg every week: a golden egg.”

The KPL has a total of 34 games in a season all which are available for betting and whose results are updated in real-time making the Kenyan top flight league a golden goose for betting syndicates.

Pool – KPL Media

How golden? According to the book, illegal Asian betting syndicates powered by live betting reportedly make over a million US dollars in profit from a single fixed match.

To ensure that the goose keeps laying the eggs, the match-fixers are willing to splurge. Perumal shares that, “In 2008, the market rate for players was around 20 thousand US dollars per match for a goalkeeper and 10 thousand US dollars for a defender. While sixty thousand US dollars bought you the full set of referees (1 centre ref and 2 assistants).”

When you consider these amounts in the backdrop of the poverty that engulfs Kenyan football it is clear that the managers of football in the country have their work cut out to rid the beautiful game of the match-fixing stain. 

However, this may prove to be tough as Kenyan football currently runs on betting money. BetKing is the title sponsor of the KPL while OdiBets are so-called motivational partners of Harambee Stars. 

Pool – FKF Communications

This sticky situation is aptly captured in “Kelong Kings” as Perumal states, “Nowadays football equals gambling plus live betting and betting companies provide a good portion of the money needed to keep the whole circus afloat.”

After reading the “Kelong Kings” one cannot help but look at football in a new light. Thinking how much of what is cheered on so loudly is real and how much of it is fake. 

The book also shows the mindset of a compulsive gambler as Perumal gambles away millions of dollars in matches that he has not fixed.

The “Kelong Kings” which is currently only available on Kindle on Amazon with the paperback version out of stock should be a must read for all football fans. 

Fair warning though, the book is mostly written in Perumal’s words and the language is crude and his prejudice seeps through.

Patience is required as the book builds up slowly starting in rural Singapore before going on to touch all the corners of the globe in an astonishing web of corruption and greed.

***

Pool – AIPS

A silver lining over the cloud of match-fixing that hangs over the Kenyan football is the fact that NTV’s Idah Waringa and former Daily Nation football writer Jeff Kinyanjui were recently feted by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) for their investigative reporting on the scourge on various Nation Media Group platforms. 

Giniwase-chaos?

Sunday, the third of November was the day which had failed to come for many a season. Eighteen seasons if you are keen on counting. To their credit, Gor Mahia players, officials and fans kept the faith, swallowed the heartache and kept believing.

Finally, in 2013, they could say, actually with a couple of games to spare, Giniwasekao (this thing we have taken it) and Ginimarwa (this thing is ours).

Given that the team styles itself as Sirikal (the government), the trophy presentation ceremony was dubbed a state function with a promise of a spectacle worth remembering. There were rumours of suits being measured, limos being hired and conflicting reports as to who between Raila Odinga and President Uhuru would present the trophy.  It was a moment of history in Kenyan football.

I got to town at 1400HRS and Tom Mboya Street was engulfed in a carnival atmosphere. Green and white was everywhere. Fans actually got suits! White with a trim of green or green with a white shirt was the preferred style. Ladies were also not left out with some donning green figure hugging dresses while others went for green and white kikoys.

Unfortunately, what would have been a delight to marvel in was ruined by the sense of entitlement exhibited by some of the the fans. Both vehicular and human traffic was at their mercy as they wailed, chanted and hogged the street. One fan shouted, “Make way for Sirikal and if you have a problem, go to your house.”

By a stroke of luck I got to the road leading to Kasarani just as the convoy of limousines carrying the players made its grand entrance.  It was impressive with the four stretch limos complimented by Mercedes’ and several four-wheel drive cars.

Sadly, what was a great idea was ruined when someone decided to allow the limos onto the stadium track for a celebratory lap of honour. Never mind that there was an ongoing KPL match.  The fans went berserk and stormed the stadium. This lead to numerous injured fans, a damaged ambulance and it was awhile before sanity was restored.

The arrival of Raila Odinga made the fans go wild as did the stadium walk-around by the K’ogalo players who were dressed in suits.

The choice of music was Ohangla and it blared from the mega speakers positioned around the stadium with fans dancing and singing along. Kenyan and American flags blew in the wind as a whiff and at times a cloud of marijuana smoke wafted around the stadium. Flares were lit and the noise levels were phenomenal.

Words fail to do justice to the atmosphere inside Kasarani. Personally have never seen anything like it and I felt as though this was more than just a trophy celebration.

Several images stood out for me:

There was a feeling of defiance and achievement with one placard capturing this by simply declaring: “This is a victory which you cannot steal from us.”

Gor Mahia fans are no slouches in the dressing department but the fan who took the cake was clad in white underwear, long socks and green sports shoes. All through the match he danced – perhaps to keep warm as a light drizzle and a chill engulfed the stadium – while clutching a portrait of prolific striker Dan Sserunkuma. At the end of the match, the fan, still in his underwear went into the middle of the pitch and presented a very surprised Sserunkuma with the portrait.

 

As the Gor players did their lap on honour in the stadium, impeccably dressed in lime green suits, white shirts, dark green ties and black shoes, I spied among them Rama Salim looking lost and forlorn in jeans, tshirt and sneakers. For context, Rama played for Gor in the first leg of the season and he and Sserunkuma had a brilliant partnership. To everyone’s surprise and the club’s dismay, he ditched Gor for Arab money, signing up to an obscure team in the Gulf. Watching him, I wondered whether he regretted his decision.

After a thunderous rendition of the Gor Mahia anthem, the match kicked off. K’ogalo players were clearly overawed by the occasion. Or maybe for them it was just a formality before the trophy was presented. Either way, KCB played delightful one-touch football and took a two nil lead into the break.

On the stands the party continued albeit in a muted tone. The fans were getting restless since KCB were hell-bent on spoiling their party. The entry into the stadium of roughly thirty anti-riot police led to ugly scenes. Apart from horrid verbal abuse, the fans threw plastic water and soda bottles, broken seats, beer cans and even poured water on the cops who exited and stood at the entrance of several gates. It was a shocking display of anti-authority.

Just a few minutes to seven in the evening, the referee blew the whistle and the K’ogalo fraternity was put out of its misery. Despite the two nil loss to KCB, the Okombe (trophy) was Gor’s.

The trophy presentation which was the point of the point of the afternoon was nothing to write home about. The Kenyan Premier League management did make a gallant attempt to put on a show like normally seen abroad. Confetti, fireworks, a winner’s podium, the works but it all seemed rushed and somehow not authentic.

Unfortunately, no sooner had Jerim Onyango lifted the trophy aloft and even before the rest of the Gor Mahia had a chance to hold the hard fought for trophy; shots of teargass rent the air. This was because thousands of fans were invading the pitch overwhelming the thirty or so anti-riot police. Alas, there was to be no orderly celebration.

That for me was my cue to leave.

As I walked out of the stadium in the dark, with thousands of fans making deafening noise around me, I reflected on the afternoon.

There had been glimpses of excellence and even moments of heart-warming expression. However, these were drowned out by excesses of unprofessionalism and hooliganism. Sadly, a fitting metaphor for what is the state of Kenyan football. I also thought of what could be a booming professional football industry in Kenya as opposed to the infrequent current sparks in the dark.

One day, it will happen, I told myself, one day, and hopefully, it would not take 18 years. However, getting to town at around 2100HRS and seeing the mayhem being caused by a section of Gor fans around the Tom Mboya monument, I was not so sure.

There you have it. K’ogalo, the Kenya Premier League Champions 2013. K’Ogalo, the team which is never far from chaos and mayhem.

Good and Bad.

Wonder what comes to the mind of Kenyans when they think K’Ogalo?

GOD BLESS KENYA!

(Images courtesy of Google)

Hapa na pale

The Ruto+Uhuru v Raila ‘mine is bigger than yours’ contest has left a bad taste in my mouth. The less said about that the better.

I have a Sunday night ritual. Those who follow me on Twitter are familiar with my ‘Sunday night at the local’ tweets. I love reggae music. There is something about the drumbeat and the conscious message that has appealed to me ever since I was a young boy listening to Jeff Mwangemi’s Reggae Time on KBC English Service back in the day.

Sunday Night Reggae however is more than just about reggae music and drinking. It is also about the community. I live in the hood and Sunday Night Reggae is the BBC and CNN of the hood. Who did what, to who, where, how and when are all adequately dissected and analysed. It is truly ‘Nusu ya Kuonana’ as the KBC salaams guys used to say. (Aside: anyone remember John Shoto Umnyololo kutoka Shamakhoho?)

Anyway, I was at the local this past Sunday and the DJ went on a trip down memory lane. He played all the ragamuffin hits from the 90s and the contrast was hilarious. The older guys were all excited while the younger guys had alama ya mshangao! Yes, before bendover there was chini kwa chini and before that there was shika shika time. It is funny how every generation thinks it’s the epitome of cool.

I love that the Kenya Premier League is finally getting massive support from Kenyans. The clubs that have managed to attracted fanatical support are AFC Leopards (Ingwe), Gor Mahia (K’ogalo) and Sofapaka (Batoto ba Mungu). SuperSport and FKL laid a good foundation several years back and players are now professionals with salaries of up to Kshs 100,000. It is my prayer that Nyamweya’s KFF will not drop the ball and will now work on upgrading the tactical levels of the game now that stadia are filled.

There was a song I forget by who which asked, Kati ya Man U na Arsenali gani kali? Maybe another forgettable musician (I am using this term loosely) should do a Kati ya Lillian Muli na Janet Mbugua nani msupuu?

Before they do let me bravely venture into this minefield. I have asked around. Many women have distaste for Lillian Muli while they have a soft spot for Janet Mbugua. For men it is the opposite, they have the ‘hots’ for Lillian Muli while they are indifferent to Janet Mbugua. I wonder why.

My one cent on the matter is that Lillian Muli really puts an effort into ‘Brand Lillian’. From how she dresses, how she walks, poses and smiles. I may have an issue with what ‘Brand Lillian’ espouses but I have to applaud the effort. On the other hand, Janet Mbugua comes across as bland and boring. Yaani yuko tu!

Again, it is MY one cent. Now go ahead and shoot the messenger :).

GOD BLESS KENYA!