Kenya Insights

Tag: Italy

  • How Racism Has Thrived In International Football Competitions

    How Racism Has Thrived In International Football Competitions

    Racism in football has been taken a notch higher and this time around it’s not in Germany where it’s prone. Italy fans have decided to let the racism ego take over and control their football feelings and reactions.

    Romelu Lukaku, 26, stood and stared at Cagliari fans behind the goal – where the chants had come from – after scoring.

    Romelu Lukaku was racially abused before and after his penalty, the winner in Inter's 2-1 win
    Image: Lukaku scored a winning penalty against Cagliari

    This is what Inter manager Antonio Conte had to say said after the game:

    “I really didn’t hear anything from the bench. However, it is true that in general in Italy more education is needed. I have also heard [Laziager] (Carlo) Ancelotti complain about the constant insults received on certain pitches. When you are abroad there is more respect, the fans think only of supporting their team.”

    The Italian league’s disciplinary panel later decided not to take action against the club. Lukaku – who joined Inter Milan from Manchester United this summer for £73m – is the latest in a series of high-profile players to be targeted this season.

    during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and US Lecce at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on August 26, 2019 in Milan, Italy.
    Image:Lukaku is yet to comment on the racist abuse he suffered while playing against Cagliari

    This is coming at a time when Chelsea defender Kurt Zouma was also subjected to racist abuse on Twitter after his own goal in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Sheffield United over the weekend.

    Last month his teammate, striker Tammy Abraham, was targeted after missing a penalty In Chelsea’s UEFA Super Cup defeat to Liverpool.

    A number of Premier League and English Football League (EFL) players have had racist comments directed at them online since the 2019/20 campaign began, including Manchester United’s Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford and Derby County’s Duane Holmes.

    Reading midfielder Yakou Meite was also subjected to racial abuse after he missed a 91st-minute penalty in a 3-0 win over Cardiff in the Championship on Sunday.

    Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham vowed to “silence the haters” after being targeted online after missing a penalty against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup final last Wednesday in Istanbul, Turkey.

    England women’s coach Phil Neville called for a six-month social media boycott by footballers in response to a rise in online racist abuse of players.

    “I’ve lost total faith in whoever runs these social media departments, so I just wonder whether now as a football community, in terms of really sending a powerful message, is: come off social media,” he said.

    “Six months – let’s come off social media. Let’s see the effect that it has on these social media companies, whether they’re really going to do something about it.” added 

    Anti-discrimination campaign group Kick It Out said:

    “The latest round of fixtures have again seen unwarranted and vile racist abuse sent to players. The number of posts such as these since the start of the season further highlights how discriminatory abuse online is out of control. Without immediate and the strongest possible action, these cowardly acts will continue to grow.”

  • Rotich: My Seniors Stopped Picking Up My Calls

    Rotich: My Seniors Stopped Picking Up My Calls

    Treasury Cabinet secretary Henry Rotich has been left to fry alone after DPP Hajji and DCI director Kinoti turned their  ‘guns’ on him.

    According to sources speaking to media, Rotich had foreseen his arrest, prosecution and sacking from the Cabinet almost three months ago.

    Sources close to Rotich told media that people close to him, Rotich, who are senior officials in government had stopped picking his calls.

    Rotich is reported to have confided in his friends and close business allies that he felt the government had thrown him under the bus and his Seniors left him to fry alone.

    According to sources speaking to local media said that Rotich must have been aware that something bad was coming up because he told us that his seniors had stopped responding to his text messages after the saga of the dams broke out.

    Rotich told his friends that he felt frustrated and betrayed according to a source.

    “We could tell that he was a disturbed man when he told us that in the past his messages were promptly responded to. It was like he was telling us that he had been left on his own,” Said a source speaking to Media.

    Rotich goose started cooking early this year when he was summoned to the DCI headquarters for questioning over the dams scandal.

    CS Rotich was first questioned by Police on 18th February this year. He was later to make four more visits to the DCI as investigations progressed.

    Rotich became a close friend with President Uhuru Kenyatta after working together at Treasury when President Uhuru was Finance minister under Retired President Mwai Kibaki’s reign.

    When Treasury CS was sucked into the dams scandal, their close ties with Head of State vaporised and since then, President Uhuru vowed that all top government officials implicated in corruption will carry their own cross.

    Rotich was arrested yesterday almost immediately after the DCI director George Kinoti and Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji jetted in from their two-week visit in Italy.

    Kinoti and Hajji left for Italy on July 9 to meet government officials and the Italian government-owned insurer, Service Assicurnativi Dei Commercio Estero (SACE), which was paid Sh11.1 billion as insurance premium for a loan to build the two dams.

    “The investigations established that government officials flouted all procurement rules and abused their oath of office to ensure the scheme went through,” DPP Haji said in a press briefing.

    According to DPP Hajji, government officials went ahead to award the contracts to CMC Di Ravenna of Italy to run concurrently while aware that the firm was, at the time of award, straining and getting into voluntary liquidation back in Italy.

    The DCI director Kinoti had also asked CS Rotich about the missing National Environment Management Authority reports and lack of public participation in the Dam projects.

    According to records, a leading supermarket was paid Sh4 million for supplying pillows and bedsheets while a food and wine company based in Nairobi’s Lavington was paid Sh15 million for supplying food and wines to CMC.

    Car hire services costed Sh7 million while Sh18 million was used for aerial survey services and another company supplied alleged foodstuff worth Sh10.2 million.

    Another company was paid 6million to supply generators while another one was paid Sh19 million for physical studies.

    The records further indicate that another company was paid 13 million for provision of air tickets and yet another got 6 million for generators.