Nairobi News

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Did Gor Mahia official pocket ‘commission’ from Sonko’s bailout cash?


A third of the Sh1 million Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko sent to Gor Mahia players last Sunday hours to their continental assignment in Morocco cannot be accounted for, Nairobi News has established.

Sonko had announced that he sent the cash to the players after they sent a distress call to him claiming they were ‘hungry’.

And for good measure, the flamboyant governor made sure he was captured on video sending this cash, in dollar bills, at a money transfer agency within the city.

SONKO’S MONEY

But while Sonko reported sent Sh1 million to Gor Mahia captain Harun Shakava, it has now emerged that only about Sh700,000 of that amount was ‘received’ by the players in North Africa.

“That’s (Sh700,000) is what we received. Each player got about Sh27,000. But we are not complaining and thank the governor because he has really been supportive to the team,” one player, who spoke to Nairobi News off the record, explained.

Separate sources now claim that a senior club official may have pocketed the money as ‘commission’ for soliciting for the cash on their behalf.

EVOKE SYMPATHY

According to this version of the story, the said official hatched a plan with some senior players to send photos of themselves lying on the floor at the airport in Doha so as to evoke sympathy from Sonko in exchange for the cash.

“I was in Morocco with the team and I can assure you no player slept without three square meals each day. Nobody approached me because he was hungry. Sonko has been helpful to this team but we I wasn’t privy to the arrangement regarding him sending money to the team,” club chairman Ambrose Rachier said.

Rachier has promised to investigate the incident and punish the perpetrators.