New board will take Bandari places, pledges Twaha

Former Kenya Football Federation (FKF) Vice President Twaha Mbarak is determined to help Bandari FC turn around its fortunes, his eyes on the Premier League title next season.

Last week, the Kenya Ports Authority Managing Director Captain William Ruto overhauled Bandari FC’s Board of Trustees and appointed the experienced football administrator as the new Vice-Chairman.

“Not everything done by our predecessors should be considered to be bad. There must be some good plans that we will pick from them and develop them to bring more efficiency.

“The plan is to ensure that the team becomes a big competitor domestically and internationally. We want to ensure that Bandari FC competes in African championships while targeting special competitions between us and regional powerhouses like Yanga SC and Simba SC,” said Mbarak, adding that the strategy will ensure that the team is heard and popularised in Kenya and internationally."

He has at the same time asked the fans to be patient as they embark on implementing the strategies aimed at lifting the club.

"We plead with our fans to be patient and they will see the changes as we collaborate with other members of this new board. We want them to feel proud of this great club.”

Captain Ruto retained engineer Abdullah Samatar as the Chairman while Hajji Masemo is the new Chief Executive Officer, replacing long serving Bandari CEO Edward Oduor.

“We are all people who understand football matters and we know the support that is needed in the team and we are ready to give them that support," added Twaha.

Raymond Ogolla, Cleopatra Taabu and Salim Ali were appointed as Treasurer, Public Relations Officer and Organising Secretary respectively while former footballer Wycliffe Anyangu, Vincent Kosgey, Nursing Shekuwe, Patricia Manthi and John Kiptoo Maritim constitute the trustees team.

Some of the notable former board members include former FKF presidential aspirant Herbert Mwachiro and Musa Hassan Musa who at one time served as the club chairman.

These changes come a few days after head coach Anthony 'Modo' Kimani was sacked following a series of poor results while his place was taken by the former Harambee Stars coach Twahir Muhiddin on an interim basis.