The impending formation of Orkarinte Football Team by Mr. Clay Onyango has been questioned by Mr. Dancan Munala who has wondered why Mr. Clay is calling Kenyans to join a team of his private company called “Orkarinte” which is neither public nor owned exclusively by Kenyans.
Speaking to KSB, Mr. Munala said that while it was a good idea for Mr. Clay to have taken the initiative to set up the football team, it was wrong for him to present it as a project targeting the Kenyan public in Stockholm when, in reality, it was a private initiative linked to his personal business.
“It is one thing to call Kenyans to join hands to form a Football team but it is totally another issue to call them to join a team whose name refers to a private company ”, Mr. Munala told KSB.
He said that Mr. Clay should have chosen a neutral name related to Kenya for the team instead of choosing the name of his company, arguing that the miss on the name will isolate Kenyans interested in joining a Kenyan football team which has nothing to do with private economic interests.
“The problem is that anybody who joins the team will be seen to be part of Orkarinte even if they have nothing to do with the company”, Mr. Munala said.
He said that being part of a private Company in any way in Sweden has several and serious economic implications especially with the Swedish Tax office and that for team members who will not be in the know about the internal workings of the Company, serious economic set-backs might follow them in case the Company enters into an economic crisis.
“Since Orkarinte is registered, the Football team will have a right to look for sponsors and if economic matters related to the team remain ambiguous, team members might one day wake up to find themselves faced with transactions they don’t understand”, Mr. Munala said.
Stressing that he had nothing against the initiative, the ODM-KS secretary said that it was important that the main implications of using the Company’s name in a National team be spelt out to avoid problems in the future.
Mr. Munala added that the best option could have been for Mr. Clay to mobilize for the team through the Kenya Social Forum, a Kenyan organization, which, he said, has a lot of room for the promotion of sports and other activities.
Mr. Munala criticized Mr. Clay for calling Wakenya to set up the team on the same day that Kesofo is also having its elections.
“Mr. Clay should have shown solidarity with Kesofo by joining the organization to drive his football agenda within the Forum. He should have avoided organizing a function on Kesofo election day because many Kenyan footballers like Mr. Makan Macharia are members of Kesofo”, he said.
Okoth Osewe
About the Author
