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Kenya had to travel to Cape Verde using a small chattered plane from Wilson Airport.
Former AFC Leopards striker Allan Wanga has revealed everything that happened during Harambee Stars' ill-famous trip to Cape Verde in November 2015 when they were forced to use a chartered plane to get there.
Wanga was part of the squad that travelled to Cape Verde and explained what happened first-hand.
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Stars needed to win against Cape Verde to stand a chance of qualifying for the second round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, having led 1-0 during the first leg held at the Nyayo Stadium.
However, a chartered plane had to make four different stops, first to Entebe in Uganda, then to Kano in Nigeria, and Dakar, Senegal, before getting to Praia in Cape Verde.
This sparked a lot of uproar on social media with exasperated Kenyans expressing their utter disgust at the situation.
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“The team could not travel because the tickets had not been paid for. They had to look for a chartered plane to accommodate us. The plane had to fly to four different countries because of fuel refilling,” Wanga said.
The former Kakamega Homeboyz and Tusker marksman, however, insists that these issues have always affected the team.
“These are things that have always affected the national team. Cape Verde is a team we should have beaten, but we only arrived to play just 45 minutes before the fixture and then had to drive another 45 minutes to the stadium!”
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During the trip, the players were subjected to abysmal hospitality, only taking biscuits, coca cola shortly after departing from Entebbe before being given small amounts of fish, eggs, and some juice.
Meanwhile, the 44-cap Kenyan international has given his opinion as to how player welfare in Kenya can be improved in order to reduce match-fixing cases.
“You play for a team that pays you 20,000-50,000 a month. What amount of money do you think clubs will use to pay for their insurance?
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“In our football, the CEOs and team managers never like it when players earn more than them. The landscape has changed now. Even At Arsenal, you may find what Saka with his new contract, or Martin Odegaard is earning compared to Arteta is more.
“I would rather Kenyan football even only had seven teams that played both home and away and in a neutral ground but the players got paid decently, for example, Ksh300,000 or something like that.
“When a player moves abroad, it should not be because they are suffering financially, but to progress their careers. We should have a system like that. Why else do you think players bet?
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“You are a player who has not received your dues, then someone comes and offers you Ksh100,000 to score an own goal. It would be hard for you to turn it down.
“We have to change this perception and ensure that the game will take care of the players.”
Wanga is the current sports officer at Kakamega County government.
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