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Ex-Gor Mahia assistant coach Frank Ouna has detailed how chairman Ambrose Rachier stole a march over them by signing an unknown defender who turned out to be the best transfer
Former Gor Mahia assistant coach Frank Ouna has described how club chairman Ambrose Rachier signed defender Harun Shakava without the technical bench’s blessings but turned out to be a masterstroke for the club.
Shakava enjoyed a trophy laden five-year spell at Gor Mahia between 2014 and 2019, when he also captained the team, before returning to the club again in 2021 after a two-year stint with Zambian side Nkana FC.
However, unbeknown to many, the defender might have never played for the club were it not for the decisiveness of Rachier coupled with the coaches inability to sign a good replacement for Donald Mosoti, who left Gor Mahia for Simba SC of Tanzania, just after the club had won a first league title in 18 years in 2013.
Ouna has described how he was tasked with finding Mosoti’s replacement, seeing him travel to Tanzania to scout Kevin Yondani then of Yanga and Rwanda to check Gabriel Mugabo who was turning out for Rwanda Police.
“Locally, we had our eyes on Eugene Asike and Mark Odhiambo (RIP),” Ouna posted on X on their search for a big centre-back who would fit into what his boss Bobby Williamson was looking for to replace Mosoti.
“I made a couple of self-sponsored scouting trips to Rwanda and TZ, to follow on Mugabo and Yondani. We liked them but my initial inquires indicated that both Yanga and Police won’t sell or rather if they do, we won’t afford them. Chapter closed.”
It is at this point that he received a call from Rachier who summoned him to his office to get a status update on how far their search for a new centre-back had gone.
“After signing off a couple of documents on his table, he clears his throat and says ‘Owadgi Obama (Obama’s bro), do you know coach (Alfred) Imonje of Bidco Utd? I answer affirmatively,” continues Ouna.
“So, he said, Imonje has recommended to him a player called Harun Shakava, from relegated Kakamega Homeboyz. Am taken aback, because we played Homeboyz twice that season and I don’t remember noticing such a player.
“They had Crescent Mwanzo and Gregory Nyapala as first choice centre-backs. ADOR (Rachier) tells me, I look perturbed, he suggests I inquire about him and let him know what I find out.”
It is then that Ouna reaches out to former Homeboyz player Paul Odhiambo who Gor had signed in June that year to enquire more about Shakava.
“He gave a very honest and professional answer, no wonder he is doing well as a coach. He told me, Harun aka Shakes is young and fresh from school, still physically developing. And that if we sign him, he can’t replace Mosoti immediately but can be one for the future,” added Ouna.
The former Wazito Fc coach then reaches out to Imonje who tells him about the player who he felt had been judged due to his age and not ability, convincing him that it is a gamble worth taking, but only for the future.
Gor Mahia players and coaches would then head to Rachier’s rural home that December and it where Ouna was to give the club boss his progress report on his search for a new centre-back and what he had found out about Shakava. However, a surprise was awaiting him.
“He seems laboured once again and tells me that our inability to find a centre-back in time has made him sign Shakava (behind our backs). I am livid. I just stand there frothing at the mouth,” said Ouna.
“I categorically tell him we won’t have him. He steals the match and hits a middle ground. He says, have him come for training, and if we are not satisfied, he will pay him his release, or we loan him out.
“I found the middle ground fair enough. He finishes by saying “kik inyis odieroni kawuono, onya muonya (Don’t tell Bobby Williamson today, he will swallow me alive).”
However, when pre-season started, the boy Ouna had doubted turned out to be the best signing.
“Shakava joins us in our first day of pre-season and puts (in) an excellent shift in training. Bobby asks about him, and I gave him the full story. We “sign him” as coaches. We went to Loitotok for pre-season, I remember the leading pack in the runs was him, Eric Ochieng, Timona Wanyonyi and Edwin Lavatsa," said Ouna.
“Shakava scored on his debut match in the Champions versus Esperance de Tunis. A looping header at Nyayo. He went on to play all matches that season bar one.”
Shakava formed a great central defence partnership with Musa Mohamed and later Joash Onyango, winning five league titles with K’Ogalo before his move to Zambia.
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