EXCLUSIVE: Kenyan Club Where Players are Morgue Attendants by Night

It has emerged that most players at Football Kenya Federation-Division Two side KNH FC are sportsmen by day and morticians by night.

Opera News has established that a number of the footballers plying their trade at the Kenyatta National Hospital-owned club serve as undertakers at the facility in order to earn some extra coins.

A well-placed source has confirmed this to us citing peanut salary on playing football at the club, as the main force behind their move into the ‘scary’ job.

The source also says the club’s head coach George Makambi is the master-mind behind contracts which lead to footballers being in charge of dead bodies during the chilly nights of Nairobi.

But while admitting to the availability of side-hustles for players at KNH, the coach insisted that the morgue job is ‘not an easy one’ and that ‘many players can never do it’.

“Most players at KNH FC work in the morgue at night. I know of many who have been doing the job for quite a long time. They have schedules which usually run between 6 pm (after training sessions or competing in matches) and 6 am. The head coach is aware of all this,” the source said.

“One of the players who happened to be my friend maintained the job even after moving from that club to another. He always ensured that he left for his nightshifts every day, forcing his new club to drop him because he was no longer concentrating on football. And he is still working at the hospital as a morgue attendant,” the source added.

The coy Coach Makambi says any interested players can work as morgue attendants but he asserts that such persons must undergo special training and special mental preparedness. He, however, insists that players who might have been spotted working in the morgue could be mere cleaners; not guys dealing with the dead bodies.

“You need some special training for you to work as a morgue attendant. Some players only work in the morgue as casual workers to ensure that the compound is clean but not as attenders,” he said

However, the long-serving tactician at the club finds it very important for his players to have side-hustles. “You know there’s life after football, and as a player injury is something which can catch up with you so it’s generally important to do something on the side to supplement your salary,” he said.

A player, who sought anonymity, admitted to having done casual jobs at the hospital for extra cash, and that some of his colleagues have ever worked in the morgue.

“Just like any other player at KNH FC, at some point, I had a contract to serve as a cleaner, and I was very happy. Other people have also had their contracts for cleaning or doing other casual jobs because people work in different departments including in the morgue,” he told Opera News.

The player went ahead to disclose that every footballer in the team is always called upon to do casual jobs during emergencies.

“Having a side-hustle is a good thing. In fact, it’s a major motivator here because a player knows that he can always make extra money besides playing football. We love it,” he said.

KNH FC competes in Zone A of the FKF Division Two.