Bilali dares to fight off his fateful past

Spare a thought for Kenya’s boxing legend and Olympian Suleiman Bilali.

The man who had Kenyan fans marvelling at his stylish boxing during his hey-days is now a pale shadow of himself and is usually seen in a drunken stupor in his neighbourhood in Muthurwa after having resigned himself to fate.

One may be utterly surprised that Bilali, one of Kenya’s celebrated light flyweight boxers, cannot afford the cheapest of phones in the market and neither does he have an address as he hangs around people whose lives are equally wasted

This sad state of affairs went on until a good friend of his in the shape of Muthurwa Residents Welfare Association Chairman Patrick Kamotho Githinji told anyone who cares that Bilali is suffering almost to a point of no return.

Yesterday, Bilali who was in tow with Kamotho paid a courtesy call to Starehe MP Amos Mwago who promised to back a bill in Parliament to recognise sports heroes of the ilk of Bilali.

“This is just the way to go. We sincerely thank MP Mwago for being concerned with the plight of Bilali who has seemingly been neglected despite having brought fame to the country,” said Kamotho, a proprietor of a retail shop at the heart of Muthurwa.

Earn a living

As a last resort, Kamotho has urged the Nairobi County Government to give Muthorwa Residents Welfare Association facilitate custody of the Muthurwa Social Hall where Bilali will have leeway to venture into coaching in a bid to earn a living.

That aside, Bilali’s tribulations of living in quandary after prematurely retiring from the sport due to injury have been written almost countless times with no hopes that he will ever get assistance.

But there is an untold story that Bilali is only too eager to tell on rooftops and which can make anyone’s heart bleed.

Yesterday, in a tete-a-tete with People Daily, Bilali let the cat out of the bag by accusing several quarters of taking advantage of his mental lapses for their own selfish ends.

He said his tribulations started when he was fired by General Service Unit (GSU) in 2012 for allegedly absconding duties during which time he was nursing injuries he sustained after being knocked down by a vehicle while jogging along Thika Road.

“I was fired as a Sergeant at GSU at the stroke of a pen and never mind that I was in a hospital bed receiving treatment,” said Bilali.

Due to a mental lapse occasioned by the tragedy, Bilali would look into the horizon seemingly lost for words before Kamotho conciliates while calling on the inspector of Police Japheth Koome to intervene

  “He (Bilali) was in great physical and mental anguish before being interdicted and I wonder why GSU did this for him. They confiscated his medals, certificates and all his bedding leaving him with nothing but the clothes he wore while being admitted to the hospital. This was callous, to say the least, and I urge Koome to address the issue,” said Kamotho.

Another sad situation would come when Bilali hardly received his Nike sponsorship in form of the provision of kits and boots on the strength of being a successful Olympian and efforts to reach out to the Boxing Association of Kenya to shed light on the matter have been fruitless.

He is now appealing to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOCK) President Paul Tergat to help him get justice.

More Articles

---