By BS MULAVI
Former National Sevens rugby coach Benjamin Ayimba has come out in support of sacked Mitch Ocholla saying whoever takes over the team is bound to fail unless the structures are changed.
Speaking to Feverpitch Ayimba said it was hard for his successor to retain the position when he took the walk.
“The minute I was allowed to go a year ago from the job, I knew that whoever was coming after me was going to have a hard time,” said Ayimba. It felt like a set up and I never think Ocholla would have been given time to make his mark on the squad, he was always going to be a fall guy.”
Ayimba said the problem of Kenya’s dismal displays is not the coaching staff but the whole institution that runs the national team.
“Now we are waiting with bated breath to see what they are going to offer the new coach, when he is named,” Ayimba explained.
“If it is a foreign coach and they offer him more benefits than his predecessors, the Union will have to explain why they give a foreigner better terms than our own local personnel who have already proved they can take the team to great heights.”
The discontent was followed by Impala RFC, who sent an official letter to the union, seeking an explanation for the termination of Ocholla’s contract. In the letter Impala blames the poor results to the whole management set up.
“We want to record that the problems within the Kenya 7s set up go far beyond the technical bench. Indeed, it has much more to do with how the Board is managing not just the Sevens team but also the national 15s team (demonstrated by Uganda winning the Elgon Cup).”
In the letter signed by their chairman Oduor Gangla, Impala have a question: “Mr Chairman, why is the Mitch Ocholla-led team being crucified when the Board has admitted that it did not provide necessary infrastructure for its management team to succeed? It is clear to everybody that the local coaches have been set up to fail – a sad case of constructive dismissal given they have employment contracts governed by employment laws.”
The union faces a litmus test in restructuring the team, though all want better results for the national team.
