NAIROBI, Kenya, June 4 – Harambee Stars coach Antoine Hey departed for Nigeria on Thursday evening to link up with his team that left without after a pay dispute.
Hey refused to board the morning flight after his Sh5.2 million salary was delayed by four days.
“I have talked with the coach this morning (Thursday) and told him that he was going to be paid his full salary for the next quarter,” said Youth and Sports minister Hellen Sambili on Thursday.
“We as a ministry are shocked that this is happening and we were infomed just two days ago. So we managed to get as much money as we could to pay the coach so that he could travel and be with the team,” she added.
Sambili revealed that they had met with the German and reassured that he will receive his money before the team departs.
“The coach met the Prime Minister, myself (Sambili) and the assistant ministers and was assured that the advance payment would be processed by the Government,” said sambili.
“This was an emergency fall back position as it was expected that the German governmnet through the Embassy would take over the coach’s expenses after the first three months,” she added.
On Wednesday, players received their allowances from Youth and Sports Affairs minister Professor Helen Sambili at their camp with the minister promising full and total support from the team and the technical staff.
Stars are currently bottom of Group B without any points while Nigeria are third on the log with one point.
Hey’s tenure as Stars coach has been punctuated by controversy ranging from dropping of crucial players to forcing clubs to signing commitment letters to have their players in camp for an extended period of time.
This latest development is a body blow to the Stars chances of progressing in the world cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
