Congo’s gift to Kenyan football

Bob Mugalia of Sofapaka in control against Gor Mahia during their Kenyan Premier League match. DR Congo-born Mugalia wants to play for Kenya. PHOTO / CORRESPONDENT

By Odindo Ayieko oayieko@yahoo.co.uk
Posted Sunday, September 26 2010 at 16:19
In Summary

Mugalia ready to cash in on dual citizenship and turn out for Harambee Stars
‘DRC are free to call me, but I will not be in a dilemma on whom to play for. Kenya is my first choice. I want to play with Oliech in the Kenya attack. I believe he is one of the best forwards in Africa’

His journey to Kenya was not an easy ride: he was not coming to play football but fleeing his war-ravaged homeland. He would today be among the hundreds of thousands of refugees at the Kakuma camp.

Thanks to the new Constitution, Bob Mugalia is on the verge of becoming a local hero if he sends Kenya to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations final donning the Harambee Stars jersey.

The national coach, Jacob “Ghost” Mulee, has invited the Congolese refugee to join the team but he only lacks the required papers to do so.

“I have accepted the call. I am ready to play for Kenya. This is my home and I love this country,” the Sofapaka forward told Monday Sport.

“Once I get the papers, I will go straight to camp because I have already got the invitation,” he added.

Even if he got a call-up to the Democratic Republic of Congo team, Mugalia says his mind is made up about partnering Dennis Oliech for Kenya.

“Yes, they are free to call me, but I will not be in a dilemma on whom to play for. Kenya is my first choice. I want to play with Oliech in the Kenya attack. I believe he is one of the best forwards in Africa,” said Mugalia.

Mugalia says his decision to accept to play for Kenya is because the country gave him a home when he was in need of one.

“My country was at war; I had to save my life. People were slaying each other. I pleaded with a truck driver to take me out of DRC and he dropped me in Kenya, on Mombasa Road,” he recounts. He did not know anyone in Kenya.

“I was ready to live on the streets of Nairobi. I was better off scavenging here than back home where there was war,” he said.

“I was told about going to the United Nations Centre for Refugees (UNHCR) where I would be taken to a refugee camp but I shuddered to think of myself at a refugee camp, with all its hardships.”

Football was the last thing on Mugalia’s mind then. He just wanted a safe haven. He just wanted somewhere he could find food and shelter.

His Congolese accent did not help much: some people would not believe his story, thinking he was just another con artist.

“But one woman took time to listen to me. I was in the city centre, hungry and tired. She directed me to where I could meet Congolese and told me of a church frequented by Congolese.”

That is the information that was to change Mugalia’s life. Since then, he has never looked back.

At the Maos Church in Ngara where he ended up, Mugalia found a home – and a fulltime job at Sofapaka.

Mugalia will not be available for the game against Uganda on October 9 but his boss and father figure at Sofapaka, Elly Kalekwa, says he is ready to help him achieve his dream.