Kenyan players fled from Juju¡¡

By Tagawah
The Tanzanian league must have
presented a rich opportunity for many Kenyan professional soccer players.
Or they thought. There is little doubt that Tanzanian league is more lucrative compared to the Kenyan Premier League (KPL).
Money is good
For instance, Donald Mosoti who
recently signed for Azam FC takes
home Sh180, 000,while he pocketed a paltry Sh60,000 while at Gor Mahia. While the money is good, the last two years has witnessed a massive exodus
of Kenyan players from Tanzanian
league under unclear circumstances. Pascal Ochieng signed with Simba FC
in 2013, while Humphrey Mieno and Jockins Atudo played for Azam. All that glitters
Before long however, the three were back to their roots even before the end of the season.
The question is, what were the young talented lads running away from? The answer, The Nairobian can now exclusively reveal, is juju – black magic.When the 2010 KPL Player of the Year George Odhiambo ‘Blackberry’
returned from Randers FC in
Denmark, he was offered a lucrative deal by Tanzanian Mainland Premier League club Azam FC. But in an interview with The Nairobian, the magnificent ball-dribbling ace says not all that glitters is gold.“I signed a one year deal with Azam but the blatant use of African magic
was too much for me to handle.
I could train well but on the match
day, at times I could experience
strange physical complications like
body pains and swollen feet,” says
Odhiambo.The former K’Ogalo talisman says that on many occasions he witnessed strange practices at the club, especially
amongst some Tanzania players.
“They have the money but playing
conditions are unbearable. It is
almost impossible to play in the
league because I wasn’t used to such things.To their players, (Tanzanians) it is all normal and business as usual but hey, I’m a Christian,” he adds.In fact when I signed the contract, I was told that it was necessary that I go
see Babu. So, during the season
whenever I got injured, my colleagues kept laughing at me,” narrates the former harambee Stars goalkeeper who has since quit active football but
works as a goalkeeping coach.
Urinating on pitch But claims of rampant use of witchcraft in the Tanzanian league did not start today.
In 2003, the BBC carried a story about how the then interim committee of the Football Association of Tanzania
(Fat) reprimanded the country’s top two teams, Simba and Yanga, for allegedly using witchcraft, stating that the arch rivals performed various juju
rituals before and during a derby that ended in a 2-2 draw.
“These are our biggest clubs and their strong beliefs in witchcraft can set a bad example for upcoming teams,”Mwina Kaduguda, the secretary-
general of Fat’s interim committee told BBC Sport.
According to Fat, the rituals included two Yanga players urinating on the pitch in an attempt to neutralise a
substance placed on the field by
Simba FC during half time.
Yanga captain Paul John Masanja also refused to shake hands with his Simba counterpart Seleman Matola saying that he was under instructions not to offer his hand.
Then came 2004 when Kenya beat
Tanzania 3:0 during the preliminary round of the 2006 World Cup qualifiers. Mwina Kaduguda, Tanzania’s head of the delegation to Nairobi, said the federation failed to pay the team’s match allowances in
order to bring a witchdoctor to
Nairobi.“Players were not paid their allowances before the game, which cost us the chance of reaching the group stage.
I was in Kenya with the team, where I ordered my colleagues to go back home and get money to pay the players.But instead of coming with the money, they came with a witchdoctor,” Kaduguda told BBC Sport.
Will this claims stop the leg-drain of local talent from KPL to the highly lucrative Tanzania league? Only time will tell.