The African Union Special Envoy for Infrastructure Development Raila Odinga on Thursday, June 20, visited the men’s national senior football team Harambee Stars at their hotel in Egypt.
The former premier who is a passionate football fan paid the national team a visit to wish them the best of luck as they are set to begin their Africa Cup of Nation campaign against Algeria.
Raila, who was accompanied by Devolution CS Eugene Wamalwa and others, spoke to team coach Sebastian Migne and team captain Victor Mugubi Wanyama.
The Stars are participating in the continental event for the first time in the 15 years and have carried the hopes of the nation.
Kenyans were, however, not happy when they learned of Raila’s visit and accused him jinxing the national team. They highlighted a history of matches Kenya has lost and noted that most of them had been preceded by Raila's visits.
A Twitter user named Universal Hawk was the first to complain stating that “and that's how the dream died.”
Others blamed the Devolution CS for having Raila accompany him to the hotel in Egypt with Gilbert Tizzoh telling him, “You should have gone ALONE. Pleaseee”
“Nyinyi ndo mmeipa team nuksi mbovu(You are the ones who have cursed the team) taking the jinxed Raila to visit the boys even before they played the first game. This was unwise. We require more prayers to cleanse the boys,” wrote one Kab Kam.
“Hapo baba ametuangusha...sasa labda handshake ituokoe...(Raila has failed us on this one…only the handshake can save us now),” Alvin Kimani noted.
Wanyama and the rest of the squad arrived in Cairo on Tuesday night having had a training camp in France for 19-days where they played two friendly matches, winning 1-0 against Madagascar and sharing the spoils in a 1-1 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
