Published on May 12, 2025 by Kariuki Mwangi
Last Updated on 1 year by Kariuki Mwangi
More than 5,000 people have signed a petition seeking to make a formal request to President William Ruto to award former legendary Harambee Stars long serving team captain Musa Otieno with the Head of State Commendation (HSC) medal.
The signature collection drive culminated with a sports day and massive signature appending held in Jericho, Nairobi today, Sunday 11th May, 2025. During the event, Otieno captained a team of ex Harambee Stars legends in a match against friends of Musa, a select team of players mainly drawn from Jambu FC from Jericho.
Otieno, partnering with Sammy Omolo Pamzo marshalled a solid defence as the legends led upfront by Nicholas Muyoti grabbed a 2-0 win to cap the day.
Speaking during the event, Otieno expressed his joy at the support he has received while also emphasizing that this is just an eye opener for other past players who are today forgotten and have no voice to champion for their welfare.
“Getting recognized will be a great honour for me but also it is a call to the authories that we have many Kenyans who have made big contribution to the sports industry and the societies they live in but sadly they have no voice to speak up. We should not be waiting for members of the public to request for such recognition but it should be well structured to honour legends and encourage them to continue impacting the youth and the society at large,”Otieno said.
The chairman of the signature drive committee Martin Kang’ara said that it is time legends like Otieno who played 105 times for the national team in a career spanning 15 years consistently get the honour they deserve.
“We are really happy that we started this initiative to honour Musa Otieno and against a humble target of just 1000 signatures, we have been able to surpass by far getting to over 5000 signatures. It is our prayer that Musa will get the honour from President Ruto and this should be a call that we should be honouring our legends and encourage them to impact society,” Martin said during the event.
A group of football enthusiasts, fans and stakeholders in the sports industry in Nairobi led by Martin, former Football Kenya Federation Head of Communication Kenn Okaka, football stakeholder and Eastlands community opinion leader Boniface Munyao and other like minded people, with the support of Makadara based online content creators Cartel TV began an initiative to collect signatures towards an appeal to President Ruto to award former legendary Harambee Stars long serving team captain Musa Otieno with the Head of State Commendation (HSC) medal.
The residents and football enthusiasts as well as sports fraternity largely from Eastlands graced the event to honor the legendary defender and sign the petition to call on the President to award HSC to Otieno, popularly known as “Otero” for his contribution to football and society.
Musa Otieno, who has been a towering figure in Kenyan football, serving as a dependable captain for the national team Harambee Stars for several years and inspiring countless young talents in Eastlands and beyond is currently a coach running the Kick off to Hope football academy in Makadara, an initiative that is at the forefront in nurturing young talent.
His dedication, leadership, and contributions to the sport have left an indelible mark on Kenyan football history. Musa Otieno who started playing for the national team while still in school has towered above all other football players in the country having been capped 105 times with no any other player coming close.
Otieno, a FIFA and CAF instructor who has played a role as Harambee Stars assistant coach as well as Harambee Starlets head coach and has been giving back to the community by empowering the youth especially in the Eastlands area with the Kick off to Hope football academy which has produced football players currently plying their trade abroad.
Tens of former Harambee Stars players graced the event all with a clarion call in support of Otieno and the bid to ask President Ruto to award the towering legend. Among the legends present today included Peter Lichungu, Nicholas Muyoti, Ibrahim Kitawi George Sunguti, Sammy Omolo Pamzo, William Oloo Rodgers Kadeng, former harambe starlets goal keeper Veronica Achieng’ and former harambee starlets defender and Captain Mary Adhiambo aka “Busu” among others.
Also in the event were two time Olympian and Common Wealth silver and bronze medalist in boxing Benson Gicharu and the Kenya Professional Boxing Commission (KPBC) Secretary General Franklin “Kukaa” Imbenzi all who called on ex players to be honoured.
