•The Slum Boys were forced to forego maximum points after failing to travel to Mbaraki for their fixture against coastal side, Bandari last Saturday.
•Munro attributed their deepening woes to the ongoing Kenyan Premier League management which he warned had the potential of driving all community clubs to extinction.
Image: FILE
Mathare United alumnus Ezekiel Akwana says the only way to resuscitate the club from its deathbed is by formulating fresh financial policies.
Akwana believes Mathare's woes emanate from deep-rooted financial challenges that can only be addressed through comprehensive reforms, including an overhaul of administrative structures.
“I can tell you out of experience that the players were suffering. Most of the time they went to bed on an empty stomach. So, how would they have posted any meaningful results? Akwana asked.
“I experienced the grave challenges during my tenure as head coach and it reached a point I felt I had had enough and made the decision to quit.”
Akwana, who was part of the squad that fired the Slum Boys to the historic Moi Golden Cup and Kenyan Premier League titles, asked club honcho Bob Munro to hand over the club to a younger and vibrant leader, who still possesses the strength to steer it forward.
Akwana made the remarks barely days after Munro made a shocking revelation that the club was too broke to honour league matches.
The Slum Boys were forced to forego maximum points after failing to travel to Mbaraki for a fixture against coastal side, Bandari last Saturday.
Munro attributed their deepening woes to the ongoing Kenyan Premier League management which he warned had the potential of driving all community clubs to extinction.
Munro said the situation at his club was currently unmanageable and called on well-wishers to find ways of rescuing the Slum Boys from going down after years of excellence in the top flight.
“The last six months have been hectic for us. The situation was made worse by the outbreak of Covid-19,” Munro said.
“The support from the FKF Caretaker Committee hasn't been enough. We have received Sh600, 000 in two batches but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the expenses the club incurs.”
In a press release last Saturday, Munro described their walkover against Bandari as a dark moment in the club's history.
"Today [Saturday] is a sad day in the 35-year history of the Mathare Youth Sports Association (MYSA) and Mathare United FC (MUFC),” said Munro’s letter.
"Our financial situation is the result of an escalating series of external factors over the last few years which kept reducing the revenue and/or raising the costs for all our top clubs.
"Those cumulative and financially destabilising external factors included: the FKF-forced expansion of the Kenyan Premier League (KPL) in February 2017."
"The termination of SuperSport/KPL contract in March 2017, the necessary but difficult Covid-19 suspension of the league for five months in 2020 and FKF's hostile takeover of the Kenyan Premier League in September 2020," added Munro.
"The FKF's failure to pay to clubs a fair share of the KPL broadcast/title rights revenue — the FKF mismanagement of Fifa, Government of Kenya and sponsorship funds during the 2018-21 period."