 Good afternoon and welcome back to the touchline on Y25 for my name is Maxwell Waseke. This point in time we hosting the legend former cricket international Maurice Odumbe. He played cricket at the big stage of course playing against the heavyweight nations like Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and right now we're talking about the state of Kenyan sports legends in the wake of what former Kenyan national team tactician Benjamin Aimba is going through with regards to his suffering of cerebral malaria and we've seen how social media users and even general public have come to his rescue raising funds that is supposed to be his medical bill. Of course good to see you. Maurice man long time but have you been? I've been very well thank you for having me Maxwell. When was the last time you were here? It's been a while. It has been a while. We are more than two years if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. How is outside there? It's not easy. You know sportsmen like myself when there's no sports you know as we all know we are actually suffering a lot and I hope something is done very very soon otherwise at this rate I think I don't know what sportsmen and sportsmen are going to do to be honest with this stuff. So you're directly trying to appeal to the president to reopen up? Well I am indeed because people are suffering and I don't know who his advice are but if only he could put his ear on the ground he will know that people are not happy people are not happy at all. You and Benja might have met during this international events during your playing time and even during your coaching times I don't know. How well do you know Benja you followed what is going through? I have followed what is going through and to say the least it is shocking you know for somebody of that stature Benjamina okay to be going out there and appealing for medical aid and I don't think he's alone even I am probably not even probably I am in the same category and many others and I'm not ashamed to say that you know because it's not been easy for me every it's a well documented case right and for somebody like Ayimba Benjamina and I thought actually he will not have those kind of problems and when I read that I was like this is not on this is not right okay there's no way you know can you think about it in America or in England a former sportsman or sportswoman appealing for medical aid you know it can happen like that these are people we are people who have given a lot for this country you know we are not expecting anything on a silver platter but it should not reach to that level he's a very good friend of mine I've spent many many hours with him many days if I even travel together when went for the common of games in Malaysia okay I spent a lot of time with him so somebody who's very close to me I might not talk to him on a daily basis but he's somebody I know pretty well. How well do you think former sportsmen are supposed to be used incorporated into the current setup of you know federations and even sporting associations and even at the government level? You know not disrespect to the people running sports or who are administrators in different respective administrations but if you ask me former sportsmen and sportswomen are not being used the way they're supposed to be used right and not disrespect to Nick Mendoza because I believe you know he should have had a sporting background even if it was a little bit especially football right when we have people like Dr. JJ Moziga who in my opinion if he was the chairman nobody will ask him anything he's been there he's done it all okay and and the way he appears you know he's he appears the part but if you look at how some of us one day you're in the next day you're out you know there's no security in your job whether you send a contract or not it's never honored you know and and this kind of treatment has to stop you know we we should have a policy where and I was happy to see Kayange I've been given a job at Nok okay and I'm sure you'll do a lot of good things there but others also deserve to be you know placed somewhere where they can make a big difference sometimes when I when I go through places like Kamukunji where they've held so many famous political rallies just a stone throw away there's a ground which is slanting like this and I'm wondering all these councilors we've had all these mcs mayors governors nobody can just send bulldozers and level that field for this young man to play football honestly and you've mentioned about a critical point especially in in Iceland's part of the county we've had you know a man nation of talents especially boxing but those town halls are very shambolic they are looking in bad state totally do you think that has also contributed immensely to the downfall of the sport a lot we saw what happened to Sleiman Bilali former boxing player you know I was reading that on Facebook the other day Bilali Waweru and I'm wondering and I will not even go into details of I've even moved around itself Bilali until even doler Ruben doler who helped him at that point but and people seem to laugh about it you know I had about Deniso Lee that man has done a lot for this country you know we should be rolling the red carpet for him asante sana on a ledge for what you've done for us but here we are we are we are throwing daggers at him you know it's like people are rejoicing for his downfall it should not be the case the guy did what he could you know we should let him be okay this is the time when somebody is down you know where is that hand where is that uplifting hand you know to tell him that you are not alone we are with you you know so there is so much that is being overlooked when it comes to former sportsmen and women in this country which is not right and if I may add something we need people in authority who can make decisions for the betterment of the future generation okay if I was given a chance today to be to be given a position where I can change the face of sports in this country I would love that because as you said uh the kids in this land if you are if they're not motivated and that's where the talent is coming from yes I've never heard of a heavyweight box are coming from lovington you know for example you know when you are people like Demo Shumundi where are these people you know these are people in their days will probably have even put Muhammad Ali down who knows but we need to give these people a chance not everybody will be a lawyer not everybody will be sitting in front of a camera like you right but that's very true yeah exactly but those boys you know we just need to give them nice facilities and let's groom them and we'll have millionaires you know we can't overlook this talent out there in this lands we can't someone watching is called William Mutuku is watching from Langatis asking ask Moris the legend himself to tell us about his journey from high to low and now to the stylish comeback to where he is right now uh to be I think for inspiration purposes well I don't do you have enough time yes so the thing is okay um you know it takes a lot of discipline to be actually to be able to reach to the level that I think I reached at that point that's very true right and and and there's some things that happen that somebody cannot control like for example when the international cricket conference came after me and there's this misconception that I was banned for much fixing it was never much fixing Maxwell it was inappropriate conduct yes meaning I was friends with a bad man you know it's like you know you're here you cannot be friends with patny for example yes because of his reputation yes but you know patny has nothing to do with kpc you know that but that's the story for another day but he takes discipline and also listening to your seniors because what I've realized nowadays they call them the millennials okay well yeah so here they don't want to listen okay and they they know it all so you know you have to listen to your seniors and another thing dedication you must be dedicated in whatever it is that you're doing okay there are no half measures and when even you're talented when you're God given that's when you even walk harder right and also when it comes to the lows you don't want to go there you don't want to wish even your worst enemy to to be down especially when they've been up there okay because at times I'll tell you my food never rains until I think something is wrong with it yeah because the people who you thought maybe why you're friends and along there you become bothersome okay ah we are tattoo sumbu and attack anini but sometimes you just want to hear a familiar voice it's not that it's something that you want necessarily but that's that's human nature and I've come to accept that there are some things that you can control and some things that you cannot control like when we're playing they used to bring psychologists to us and they will ask us you are going to play against people like Sachin Tendulkar Brian Lara what are you going to think about you cannot think what Lara will think or what's a chain will think but I can't because it's such a milestone exactly but I can control what I'm thinking I cannot control the weather so I should not worry about the weather that's an uncontrollable so try and control things that are within your grasp things that are manageable you know it's it's fine to think big there's nothing but they have to be attainable goals right and always taking one day at a time step by step and one will get there in your own objectives assessment do you think the former legends for Kenyan sports are appreciated at home even from fans themselves because like there's this player who is featuring in South African League initially he was in Zambian League Anthony Akumu and even yes where he's playing for Zesco United whenever he's on the streets he's celebrated and that's a Kenya playing straight overseas and like you people more specifically yourself you are on the streets but even Kenyans themselves they don't recognize you but they will recognize when he visits Kenya I don't know to be honest with you you know and sometimes it amazes me how people can fight over Arsenal and Liverpool and okay fine it's it's all good it's all lovely to support a team you know to be a fanatic or I support Liverpool okay but I will not say maze to the washing down team young come on we will beat you yeah those guys the moment we turn on the telly we are putting money into the bank accounts right yet we are overlooking what we have here so I don't know whether it's a Kenyan thing you know it's it's been baffling to me how we can worship foreign heroes and we cannot worship our own here you know at times way back I met Paul Tangat at the airport probably was waiting for somebody and such a humble guy and people were passing him and I'm like do they know who this guy is you know those kind of things I am more respected out there than I am respected back home but reason why I have no idea I don't know why we don't appreciate our sportsmen and sportswomen even when they have the millions still okay we are not giving them the the respect that they deserve they don't they don't want people kneeling in front of them no far from me you know they just to appreciate them that they are doing something for the country that is all right and the rest will follow and also we need to appreciate them we need to also give them something you know some countries a team just wins a small event they're giving apartments they're giving I don't know what and those kind of things we don't we are not even giving a nowadays finer here they are giving Wilberus but the thing is you know they should be appreciated you know what is a hundred million to the government to give people apartments for something well done you know it will not take much we lost to Bangladesh in 1990 yes eight not common ICC trophy in in Malaysia just before the olympics commoner games those people they were all giving houses just for beating Kenya can you imagine and it was not even a world cup and they were giving houses no you can't compare those people to Kenya sportsmen and sportsmen we can't just rely on athletes runners there's so many sprinters in west probably you'll have been a sprinter who knows but we have to give them the opportunities people talk about swimming we have so many great swimmers out here yeah so many now I've been reading about this this sprinter 100 meters doing 10 point something yes Mako Tienofadu Nando Muñala you know but if these people are giving proper training proper facilities they'll be able to compete I don't believe it's the Americans and the Jamaicans who can only run 100 meters and 200 meters no they talk about two at the front we have so many people ride black mambas without gears so you give them they can also become there you go David Kinja is here to mentor the upcoming talents especially those who are passionate about cycling there you go is it the one just undone for is now done with swimming we don't have proper replacements for him yet there are plenty of untapped potential you've said it of course you can be part of the program and join the conversation what do you think about the state of Kenyan legends of course a few insights coming in through Pakini Muñala also known as Jogoyal Rambi saying that you know the government it should create a kitty for the sports legends so that you know they don't start begging for handouts and assistants whenever they are stranded and of course he's congratulating his son Militha Lei David for scoring 391 marks and he wants to become a lawyer and join Mako High School thank you for your insight Pakini Muñala Arunu do you think that can be implemented locally creation of a sports kitty for legends of course all we have to do is find out what other countries are doing it's as simple as that you mean we can't copy you know it's something like a pension fund where every month excuse me you know you go and you collect your check it can be done there is enough money you know if we can just seal those loopholes where the money that is supposed to do the right thing doesn't disappear then i think we are like what has happened to stadia construction you remember some point Kenya missing out on hosting chan tournament because we were not ready facility wise this is it we also lost an under 19 cricket world cup here because we were not ready you know those kind of things you know how many jobs would we have created so something has to be done because there's no point of looking at those trophies you know and you know talking of trophies why is congestion you know so you will be looking at all those trophies those bells they will not put food on your table all right we don't want to be driven in massidious bands and v8s and all that no you know just as long as you know you have your food you know everybody is comfortable you know that's all they are asking for you know they're not asking for anything big in india all those guys who play cricket for india they collect their checks every end of the month it's an appreciation it's it's it's not easy at some point you are in charge of the national team as batting coach what happened are you still are you still serving that's docket or things went the way they went just tell us about that okay that from the batting coach that made me the head coach and i went to dubai i think uh since they made me a coach i'm the only one who has actually won a trophy when i went to rwanda you know they brought great names from great country roger hopper you name it yes you know so we went to rwanda one went to dubai and when we came back um i was dropped as the coach so up to now i don't know the reason why and they never cited the reason it was not official it was not professional nothing like that they just told me sorry mate we are not traveling to to was it dubai dubai we had come from dubai yes i think katar yeah you're not coming to katar thank you very much and that was it my assistant became the coach they brought a school teacher from south africa to be also a coach you know because the muzungu was very good in taking pictures so he's more experienced than mori so don't buy us play three wallcups you know yeah so but a school teacher because he's muzungu you know salavi mori see you see you around so since then and then corona of course so nothing has happened ever since so as we speak right now there's a cricket normalization committee led by retired judge joice alwuch who is now in charge after i think the error of tenure of ja kijan muhammed they came to an end and see us for sports doctor mi na muhammed formed a category committee to steer you know cricket kenya to at the level do you think about it you know to be honest with you if you ask me even this stirring committee you know they have to come with a structure whereby anybody who's been involved who has held office before in cricket kenya and arabi province should not buy for positions i think we should just have a clean slate and the people going to court they should withdraw all those court cases because sports is not supposed to be played in the court not at all there is a tribunal this is yeah because if you look at cricket we seems to be playing the game in the courts you know the corridors of courts you know one day an interim committee is set up by them by the cabinet secretary you know within a month you hear people have ran to the courts then you hear there is a tribunal people have gone to the tribunal we don't need that you know people are suffering i i i need to be involved in cricket because that's that's what i know right then it's only needs to be involved in football right benjamin needs to be involved in rugby you know we are not the kind of people that should just be dismissed that likely you know we we need to be used somewhere and used properly while the normalization committee as i said let's just hope they do a good job because we are losing funding from the icc yes you know we used to bring in almost a million pounds a year now we are down to probably 250 000 pounds see and also the sponsorship because nobody wants to touch anything that is always in the courts so let's hope the normalization committee but i have faith in them i think just this lady i i'll watch she's she's a steady person she's you know she's with it and i hear this vikram in there so i think i think these are these are people with you know proper upstanding so they will do a good job and i'm sure they want to see the game pick up and go everyone we speak to especially legends in these respective uh fields of you know uh sporting disciplines may it rugby athletics cricket they say that you know the standards have drastically dwindled i don't know talked to us about uh cricket during your time and what we're witnessing right now to be honest with you sponsors dwindled in this country immensely and it will take time for us to get to where we were you know if we don't clean our house if we don't get things in order sorry countries like china already preparing olympians eight years down the road not this one not tokyo they already looking at is it 2026 yes they're already looking at that when we're still looking at 2020 tokyo that's it's here that's almost gone but what about 2026 who's going to replace this guy is we're going to to be competing in three four months time you know we have to think ahead and we need to and outside the box and outside the box and we need to to have people who mean well for sports you know we don't want people will be going to for for joy rides to tokyo and you know they will be there despite this corona thing they will still that they'll still get those certificates traveling whatever they will get them you know at the expense of people who are deserving so we need to to get our house in order whoever is the cabinet secretary you know those trips that you have somebody a clerk in the ministry going for a trip with a girlfriend they will be better off taking a former sportsman or woman to travel with the team they will learn more than these people are going on holidays like what happened in free and even the 2018 world cup where we saw a group of parliamentarians going for benchmarking mission but whenever they come back we never see that input yeah there's never a report there's never reports yeah this is it you know those are the kind of things we need to cut tail we we need to get rid of those kind of things honestly because there's so many deserving people and i don't think politicians or because you're connected somewhere that you need to make that trip they should get people who are deserving to go there and we we need to get things running properly and if you ask me about football i will go original you know i will because when zoe is playing with sofa parka what crowd are you going to get but if you have kisumu county playing maybe tika united county you know you will get a crowd and there'll be more sponsorship and we need to start having these day night games as well because during the day it's not easy moris if you happen to meet president uhuru kenyatta today and you have your few minutes to talk to him what will be your message for him my message will be mr president look into matters sports because that's that's a that's an area where it can employ so many so many youth in this country and there's so much talent just make sure they have the facilities they have everything they don't like anything so that even after hitting the gym bag they don't go and find you and me and they give us one you know kayo no you know let them come from training knowing that they have food they have a little bit of money in the pocket and that's about it or just to make me be in charge of making sports growing this country i'd like to see sports growing this country just to be given that position you handle this guys of those areas and the grounds that have been grabbed should be brought back the argument the local sporting administrators and managers have heard they have attributed to for their failure to give you know former legends positions and recognize them in management dockets is because they say they don't have you know manager will know how you say you don't need to be a sportsman you you so the wanda university degree from me to tell them how to organize a tournament honestly what is there to do i'm not going there to be an accountant i'm going to give knowledge okay fine this player this coach why are they called technical directors no you can't start giving a technical director you start doing accounts you know it's not on so there are positions for this kind of people you know it's not we want to take from from the chairman to the cleaning lady no you know just positions that suits us that is all yeah and also i can also learn through the job yes this is it most people learn on the job now this this is it you know serena williams started playing tennis at the age of 16 and she has a degree when did she go to school because there's there's that flexibility where where she can study when she's free so give people that opportunity give them that chance let them be playing sports but at the same time they get to be studying where where do you think we heading sports wise is is the path progressive or otherwise i like to be optimistic okay i'm a very optimistic optimizing person i like to think that the future is bright i can see the light at the end of the tunnel okay it's just that you know it can go on like this you know because guys like us as much as we are down we will not allow it because we've invested we invested a lot in our respective games just to let it go down like that because there's there's light at the end of the tunnel and i'm sure it's not bad it's you know it can be salvaged it's it's it's not too late it's not too late the event that kenya plays bangladesh right now what do you think will be the score line because during your heydays it was like you know a titanic clash you know heavyweights looking once against each other and like in case the same happens today it will be a one-sided affair very very one-sided i in fact there we don't want to play as they will probably send their under 16 to play kenya now like those days they're not interested they've they've grown big time they've grown big time we can't touch them and they were below us we were below us we were to get test before bangladesh but now we can't touch them how was the experience playing against you know those crickets you know heavyweight nations oh it's it's something else it's you know because here you are you know playing the australians you know this this is their best you know this is a first world country and remember you are just a kid from gara here park road used to play with us ogoro right and you're playing us guys it's it's it's a good challenge you see and that is where now you also have to show what you're made of you have to be mentally tough you have to show them yes you may come from the first world you may have all the facilities but from kenya small nation will still give you a run for your money and that is how it's all about confidence david versus golyak it's the belief yeah believe back yourself trust yourself that you can do it you can deliver see we need to give this encouragement to the youngsters believe in yourself but at the moment the way things are i don't think they believe in themselves i don't think that the the the future is bright because at times i'll be honest with you maxel i look at these kids who are 18 17 smoking marihuana drinking and i'm like with these kids ever reached 30 you know what what is our life expectancy now as it dropped to what 50 so you better be careful ha ha ha so what's your message to the upcoming sportsmen the young talents outside there who are coming up and uh your words of advice your cancel to be disciplined right uh believe in yourself listen to your elders don't do what you are not supposed to do and above all be trustworthy you know be trustworthy just be a person who people can rely on be that messiah be that person the one to go to you know but have the discipline very very important without discipline you may be talented you may have all the money in the world but you must have discipline sure all those other things will come the good life the enjoyment they will never run away they will always be there but discipline people don't get to the top by luck it is because of discipline because personally you've seen it all you've played at the big stage you've enjoyed life absolutely i've seen life i've gone down there trying to make you know as i said life is a constant struggle it's it's it's never over just because i have a few shillings here doesn't mean everything is rose you know it's a constant battle and every day we learn new things we become better if we want to or we become worse so the choice is normally ours and as they say choice is off consequences how is the progress of your recovery path i am very good i'm i'm happy i'm dry i'm still alive um i don't know some people might say i've lost weight have i lost weight or do i look fit you look fit i look fit but some people might say i've lost weight but under the circumstances even if i've lost weight i won't be surprised there's a lot going on you know and hundreds and hundreds of millions of people over the world things are not the same yes sure things are not the same but we just have to hang in there as much as it's tough but i think some of the measures here can be relaxed a bit so that people can at least earn a bit otherwise otherwise at this rate i don't know it it can be bad you know it it's it's a good thing we in africa know those Arab countries otherwise would have been having sleepless nights at the state house now as we wind up less digress a little bit and talk about you know safari rally safo the last time it happened in kenya was in 2002 i know you were there you were very active you watched the proceedings and now it's coming back kenya has been reinstated to fia world rally championship calendar it will be happening this year in june to july actually in july and of course it will be getting flagged off at kaisab to naibash and a lot has been put in place it's all systems go what's your expectation like i just hope it will be like in the 70s 80s and probably it was epic back then oh it was brilliant it was brilliant you know i just used to sit by the road and see the cars just speed by you know it was amazing and i just hope it will bring back that a low at that enjoyment yes that man you know you see those cars moving but heavy machines heavy machines at terrific speed and i admire that that's why i admire people like louis amilton you know you just can never come fly no i like that and i think that's before the kufo milawani are behind laser amilton of course of course he's been doing very well i think there's another one tomorrow yes yes yes this is like grand prix to me yeah so you know those kind of things and you know we need to start bringing those sporting calendars true you know we need those you know we need to have these certain months we know we'll be having rabbi we'll be having football you know so that our schedule our calendar is packed look at wembley dawn you have this you have that why can't people make money when you have all those in a calendar year you are content you know maybe even once a year we say new zealand will be coming true that's the calendar well spoken indeed of course now that's your camera talk to the nation what's your parting shot to the entire country to the entire sporting fraternity and even to the cricket family all i can say is that fellow sportsmen and sportswomen it's tough it's tough all of us and i just pray that things will change very soon we are hurting and we are hurting a lot and i just hope president uhuru kenyata if you're watching or if you hear about this please i'm appealing to you come to our aid vijana wana umia and they have a lot of faith and trust and abilities in your work please say dear and not only that guys kenyans let's rally behind each other it's it's tough you know let's just be one it's very important you know when when when the chips are low you know this is when now you say i'm your brother i'm going to give you that helping hand let's give each other helping hand it won't cost much indeed excellent way to wind up the interview the legend himself mori so dumbe former cricket international manu played at the big stage joining us this particular afternoon to give his insights on the state of kenyan legends and of course rallying for oneness amongst kenyans in the wake of corona virus pandemic and hoping that president uhuru kenyata will leave to the kafiu and if possible open up sporting activities so that they can resume and kenyans especially those who are passionate about sports can continue earning their livelihoods from that it's been an honor having you thank you for coming through all the very best champ thank you very much this is the touch line on why too far for my name is max alwasiku we'll be taking a short break but the show is still on until three o'clock