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Each segment of the society has its own way of protecting its rights.
A few days ago we were celebrating the international journalists’ day. We decried the maltreatment, attack and even murder of journalists all over the world. We reiterated the well-known and accepted mantra that without a free press, there can be no democracy.
At least we do have a voice and a platform to complain through.
That does not excuse the frequent attacks on the media, but somehow it shows us that there are some professions in this country that just seem to have no voice nor the ability to defend their members from frequent assaults.
In the sports pages, my voice and sympathy goes to the referees, the linesmen and all the match officials who seem to be treated with growing contempt in this country.
The Kenyan eyes are usually trained upon the top league and fail to see the reality of the lower leagues where the battering of match officials is almost an acceptable phenomenon.
We highlighted the fate of a Mombasa referee, who was upended and injured in his nether regions while officiating a match. It was a low level game some may say, but that treatment of a match official was never given the gusto of investigation that is required.
He was left to his fate even while he complained about losing his manhood. That was criminal and nobody stood in court for it.
At the Kenyan Premier League level, a well-known fan stormed the pitch and gave chase to the match official. The assailant was wearing moccasins and thus his feet could not hold the ground well and he slipped nicely and fell down like a sack of potatoes that he was.
The official was not injured, but the fellow was banned from watching live matches in the stadium. Several weeks later, I was sitting next to the same Neanderthal in the stands! Somebody forgot to implement the ban. Nothing much happened to this Homo Erectus!
On January 6, it was no longer just fans. The match was between AFC Leopards and Nzoia Sugar. It was officials of AFC Leopards, led by the everlasting official Timothy Lilumbi who stormed the pitch and assaulted the match officials.
Following review of the Referee’s and Match Commissioner’s reports, the case of Lilumbi, who is the secretary of the respected team, was forwarded to the Independent Disciplinary and Complaints Committee (IDCC).
The secretary general was thus summoned to the committee. He never showed up. The AFC Leopards management pretended to have banned him. He moved to the sports tribunal.
He is still a happy man and thumps his chest saying: “KPL didn’t ban me, it was the IDCC.
They did it without a fair hearing since I wasn’t called to testify so I took my case to Sports Tribunal after their decision. They (Sports Tribunal) advised KPL and IDCC that I am given a full hearing.
“So far I am a free man and I’m transacting business as usual until the Sports Tribunal gives a verdict on the case which I think should be soon,”
He is still bragging months after the incident. Discipline should be served as early as possible to stop this kind of impunity!
