Rachier, an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya with over 40 years of experience, garnered 658 votes against his main challenger, Dolfina Odhiambo, who bagged 456 votes. Rachier’s latest success means he will be in charge of Gor Mahia until 2029, a total of 21 years, having taken over as the club’s chairman since 2008.
Sally Bolo made a return to the club management after she was elected as the new vice chairperson with 610 votes against Victor Mbaka, who got 488 votes while Nick Arum, was voted in as the new Secretary General; after flooring incumbent Sam Ocholla with 582 votes against 501 votes.
Gor Mahia to extend supremacy outside Kenyan territory
Immediately on being re-elected, Rachier promised to make Gor Mahia one of the most feared teams in Africa while promising to extend their supremacy outside winning the Kenyan Premier League title.
Gor Mahia is the most successful club in Kenyan history having won the Kenyan Premier League a record 21 times, and have also won the FKF President's Cup a record 11 times. It is the first and only team from Kenya to win an African continental title to date, having won the African Cup Winners' Cup in 1987 after previously reaching the final in 1979.
The club was formally established on February 17th, 1968 as a merger of Luo Union and Luo Sports Club (also known as Luo Stars) and won the national league at the first time of asking.
Gor Mahia won the league title in their inaugural season in 1968 with legendary Kenyan striker William Ouma “Chege” scoring 19 goals. They would win the league title for the second time in 1974. In 1976, Gor Mahia became the first Kenyan football club to win the National League unbeaten, thanks to the exploits of playmaker Allan Thigo, who also acted as the coach, and repeated the same feat 39 years later under the leadership of Frank Nuttall.
Under Rachier, Gor Mahia have participated in both Champions League and Confederation Cup inter-club competitions but they have never managed to win any of the trophies. They have made five appearances in the Champions League from 2014 till now. In 2014, they were knocked out in the first round, the same as 2015, while in 2016 they got eliminated in the preliminary round.
In 2018, they qualified again and got knocked out in the first round, same as in 2019 and 2020. Meanwhile, they have made five appearances in the Confederation Cup – 2009 got knocked out in the preliminary stage same as 2012, while in 2013 they were eliminated in the preliminary stage.
In 2018, they made an improvement and reached the group stage where their journey ended but in 2019 they went past the group stage and got knocked out in the quarter-finals. During the group stage, they finished second behind winners Zamalek after garnering nine points.
However, Gor Mahia were drawn to face Moroccan side RS Berkane in the quarter-finals, and they lost the first leg 2-0 and the return leg 5-1 to exit on a 7-1 aggregate defeat.
“The first thing of course, is to continue and move a little bit out of the usual winning of the Kenyan league, we have won the league 21 times, while the next club following us has only won 13 titles, I think we have done fairly well (in the local scene), but we could do better by extending our supremacy outside the Kenyan territory,” Rachier told Flashscore.
“We want to win titles like the Champions League or Confederation Cup, so that the core business of Gor Mahia should be achieved by us doing better outside Kenya, we need to push up and try to win trophies outside Kenya rather than being proud of winning trophies locally.”
Rachier further revealed his vision to transform K’Ogalo from a club that depends on sponsors from the corporate world to run its day-to-day operations.
“We need to transform this club to have part of it, at least 50% part of it, in the hands of any interested investors, so that we cease to depend on the sponsors, because when sponsors walk away we are usually left naked, we are better off improving our financial status and having investors, who could improve our financial situation,” explained Rachier.
“So one of the items that goes straight into our agenda was to discuss that transition and I believe as a new office, we will still undertake that transition and do away from being purely a community club.”
On why the club was yet to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM), Rachier responded: “The AGM has not taken place for obvious reasons, that people preferred, and they were looking so anxiously about the elections, so that the agenda was first we do the elections, and it has taken us up to these place, we are going to consult now to see if the atmosphere will allow us to proceed with the AGM.
“Nothing says we cannot hold the AGM, so really, the question should be why it has not taken place up to now, and I will say up to now, most of the time has been consumed by elections but we are going again to convene as a committee after this to see if we call it off, or schedule it for another day.”
On her part, Bolo said: “It is with great humility that I accept the honour you have bestowed on me to serve as vice Chairperson of this institution that we all love and cherish.
"Gor Mahia has, since 1968, put smiles on our faces with great performances on the pitch locally and internationally. We, therefore, owe it to the club to give our best in management and match the great performance our players have put together over the years.
“I pledge to give Gor Mahia the very best and work with fellow elected leaders and the secretariat for the glory of the club. The club elections which sometimes are divisive are now behind us. Congratulations to all the winners. To our comrades who have fallen short, thank you for the valiant efforts. Let us all unite to keep growing the club and make it the best in the African continent and beyond.”
Gor Mahia are currently chasing for a third consecutive league title as they sit third on the 18-team league table with 46 points, three fewer than leaders Kenya Police FC, who have 49 but K’Ogalo have played one match less.
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