Gor Mahia are weighing up the option of escalating their dispute with Tunisian giants Étoile du Sahel to FIFA after the North African club allegedly failed to honour an agreed transfer fee for defender Alphonce Omija.
The Kenyan champions sold Omija to the 11-time Tunisian league winners in September 2025 for an agreed fee of USD 50,000 (approximately Ksh6.4 million). However, Gor Mahia Secretary General Nick Arum says the club has yet to receive any payment, several months after the deal was concluded.
According to Arum, repeated efforts to engage Étoile du Sahel through official correspondence and direct communication have yielded nothing, leaving Gor Mahia with little choice but to seek intervention from world football’s governing body.
“We have a case with Étoile Sportive du Sahel. They took our player, but they have never paid the club a single cent,” Arum told SportPesa Blog.
“We will report them to FIFA soon. The agreed transfer fee was USD 50,000, and up to now we have not received anything. We have written countless letters, but they do not respond.”
Promises Made, Payments Missing
Omija joined Étoile du Sahel shortly after returning to Gor Mahia from Omani side Al Dhofar SC and following an impressive campaign with Harambee Stars at the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN).
Since moving to Tunisia, the defender has established himself as a regular starter, featuring consistently in league matches and turning out in the CAF Confederation Cup. Étoile were later eliminated in the second preliminary round by Nairobi United.
Gor Mahia hoped the issue would be resolved last October when Étoile du Sahel travelled to Nairobi for the return leg against Nairobi United. Arum says he personally held talks with the club’s senior officials, including the vice president, who assured him the matter would be settled immediately.
“When they came to Nairobi, I spoke directly to their management,” Arum said.
“The vice president committed himself and promised the payment would be made on Monday, October 20, 2025, after their Sunday match.”
Arum revealed that the Étoile official even signed the transfer agreement again and shared his contact details. Since then, however, communication has gone silent.
“He signed the agreement we currently have and left his contacts. Since then, we have been calling him, but no one is picking our calls. That is why we now have no option but to pursue the matter formally,” Arum added.
With patience running thin, Gor Mahia are now preparing to lodge a complaint with FIFA in a bid to recover the unpaid fee and bring the long-running standoff to a close.
