Over Ksh 250,000 was realised during a football tournament in honor of the late Kenya Premier League ( KPL) striker Ezekiel Otuoma that was held at ABSA grounds in Nairobi.
The funds were raised to aid the funeral arrangements and burial ceremony of the late footballer that has now been scheduled for 11th January in Siaya County.
The event also attracted the newly elected Football Kenya Federation ( FKF ) vice president McDonald Mariga and his brother Victor Wanyama who both played for Friends of Mariga FC in the six – aside tournament.
Otuoma passed away on 21st December last year after a long battle with Motor Neurone Syndrome ( MDS ) , a rare condition that affects the brain and nerves resulting to the weakening of body muscles hence paralysis.
Speaking on Sunday at Absa Sports Club in Nairobi, Otuoma’s first coach Eric Bob Otieno who organized the football tournament to raise the funds thanked the Kenyan football fraternity for standing with their own.
“I first met him as a five year old in Mbotela estate where I started coaching him and others at our club Kamaliza, so he is a young man that I considered a son, his family is well known to us,” said Otieno.
“He was just 31 years old , but unfortunately a rare disease had to cut short his life. We are all here as the Kenyan Football family to condole with his wife Rachael, family and friends,” said Mariga adding that the spirit shown by footballers on Sunday is encouraging for the development of the game in Kenya.