National Super League side FC Talanta are mulling to report Tanzanian-based Singida United to the Federation of International Football Association (Fifa) for player tapping.
Talanta accuse the Tanzanian outfit of wrongly approaching and acquiring the services of their midfielder John Mwita who has a running contract with them without their knowledge.
The 2018 SportPesa Cup bronze medallists took to their official social media pages on Wednesday to announce the acquisition of Mwita for three years—eliciting the attention of Talanta, who say that the player’s contract with them will expire in December 2020. The revelation by Singida raised eyebrows as the player had changed his identity to Ismael Mohammed and that he was born in Singida which contrasts with the profile he was using while plying his trade in Kenya.
Mwita joined Talanta last year in December from Modern Coast Rangers, where he signed a three-year-long deal and was a key figure in the starting team. Prior to his Coast Rangers sojourn, the lanky versatile midfielder had featured for the defunct Isibania FC which later re-branded to Migori Youth. Singida posted a mugshot of the 24-year-old player in Talanta’s shirt on their pages and revealed that they had won his signature as a free agent from an unspecified club from the Kenyan Premier League.
However, Atlanta's team manager David Chweya, said the player who was christened as Ismael by his teammates, was reported to have crossed to Tanzania for his holiday but never hinted of working on a deal to move to another club. The administrator alleges that Mwita was a bearer of the Kenyan national identity card and owed the club nothing in terms of his salary and allowances. He vowed to report Singida to Fifa for fraudulently signing the player.
“Days after we wrapped up our last season’s fixtures, I invited all our players to our offices in Kasarani to dish out their allowances and that was the last time I saw him. He was the first player to arrive and promised to report early for the pre-season. He has a contract with us and we were never approached by Singida neither has the player terminated his stay or given him his release letter. We are considering to report them to Fifa for player tapping and at the same time investigate his controversial citizenship and identity. We can not stand in his way if he wants to cross the border but any interested club should follow the right channels.”
