Kenyan football club Gor Mahia has found itself in a difficult situation after being banned by Fifa from registering new players until it clears a payment dispute with former forward Jules Ulimwengu.
Ulimwengu, who currently plays for Green Eagles in the Zambian Super League, claims that he was not paid his salary for 13 months while playing for Gor Mahia between July 2021 and August 2022.
However, the club’s CEO Ray Oruo alleges that there was a payment plan agreed upon, and that Ulimwengu went to Fifa despite the club’s letters not being left unanswered.
The club’s CEO further accused Ulimwengu of not being truthful, and has suggested that cartels seeking to siphon money from clubs are misadvising foreign players.
“We had agreed to a payment plan for Ulimwengu but he still went to Fifa and there is no letter which he had written that we have failed to reply. There are cartels who are using these foreign players to siphon money from clubs and we will not be coerced into giving in by going back on agreements we have had with them,” Oruo told Nairobi News.
Gor Mahia had previously been banned from signing players for three transfer windows after failing to pay arrears owed to former players.
The club was allowed to sign new players in March after clearing the debts, but has now found itself in a similar situation due to the dispute with Ulimwengu.
He also claims that Ulimwengu wanted to be paid from the money that was given to the players and technical bench by CS Eliud Owalo, despite the fact that the money was divided among the players themselves.
“Ulimwengu even wanted us to pay him from the money CS Eliud Owalo had given the players and the technical bench last month because someone misadvised him that Gor had received a huge donation. The money from the CS event was given to the captain who divided it among the players themselves. So which money was he being told the club had? Posed Oruo.
Ulimwengu, on the other hand, maintains that he had no other option but to go to Fifa after his letters to the club went unanswered. He says that he did not take Gor Mahia to Fifa in bad faith, and that he is simply seeking what is owed to him.
