Robert Munro, There Will Be None Like You

One day in August 1987, on a work tour of Mathare slums, he watched as a group of young boys played football with a polythene bag ball and stones as goal posts. A conflict ensued and Bob called for a penalty kick and the boys got very excited. He asked himself why those children cannot get a sporting chance the way he got in Ontario in community organised baseball and ice-hockey?

That is how he dedicated his life for the children around Mathare which included Eastleigh, Pangani, Pumwani and Majengo areas. An unconfirmed story is told of how Bob Munro tried to come up with Kibera Youth Sports Association. He went to Undugu Society Centre in Kibera with Father Groll. Violence ensued before the football tournament ended and the trophies were stolen as people scattered. That is how Munro decided to concentrate of the informal settlements to the East of Nairobi.

In 2005, President Mwai Kibaki appointed Maina Kamanda as the Minister for Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services. He served in that post until 2007 and in that time, he battled while arbitrating between Fifa, KFF and local football stakeholders. He is the man who painted Robert (Bob) Donald Munro as evil, and tried to instigate his deportation.

According to Kamanda, whenever there was a stakeholders meeting, Bob Munro would not speak much, but the meeting will agree on his earlier held opinions. Because Kamanda could not pin him on any wrong doing, he blamed him for instigating Fifa ban on Kenya in October 2006. Meanwhile, he dedicated over three and half decades of his life in uplifting the less fortunate through football. That was Bob Munro for you until he breathed his last Sunday morning.

Bob Munro came to Kenya in 1985 to work for the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) as an economist. He was born on September 1, 1942 in Ontario Canada and graduated in 1966 with a B.A. in History from McMaster University, Ontario. He began by working for the UN in Geneva when he set up the Environmental Division. He was thus instrumental in moving UNEP to Nairobi.

Between 1984 and 1987, he was a consultant on Sustainable Economic Development with a focus on environmental conservation with World Commission on Environment and Development based in Nairobi.

He married Swedish Architect Ingrid Munro, the founder of Jamii Bora Bank now Kingdom Bank. In the mid-1980s, they adopted three street boys which meant that they had to stay in Nairobi. Before they got the three sons, they had their own daughter and adopted another daughter from South Korea.

Mathare Youth Sports Association is structured around leagues in 16 zones with the motto; giving the youth a sporting chance.  These leagues are owned and run by the community of young people in the informal settlements. The age-group leagues begin from the age of five years old to Under nineteen. These young people came together to do community service by keeping their neighbourhood clean. They also conducted peer education on HIV and AIDS, drug abuse and crime.

The highlight of these leagues was the selection of teams that went to the annual international Norway Cup. This is the biggest youth football tournament in the world. Boarding a plane for children who were busy jumping over murky water channels in the slums a few years earlier was enough to change their perception. Children began dedicating their free time to MYSA activities so as to get the rare chance of going to Norway.

The economy of Kenya began to dwindle in 1991 and football clubs began to struggle. Government agencies that ran football clubs plying the Kenya Super League began to fold up. Kisumu Posta, AFC Kamili, Reli, Transcom, MoW among others were disbanded. Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, whose players relied on employment from these government agencies, now struggled to pay salaries. Against this background, Mathare United was launched in 1994. They were nicknamed “Slum boys” or simply “githare”.

Ever since Mathare United were promoted to the top flight league in 1999. They had won the 1998 Moi Golden Cup, becoming the first team from the second tier to win the KFF Cup. Ever since their promotion, Bob Munro, with a sweater over his shoulders, has been a constant figure in Kenya football circles.

MYSA graduates and coaches also became part of every KPL teams.

Loved and hated in equal measure, one thing you could not take away from him is his dedication to his ideals and vision. He was a good record keeper which earned him trust with donors. As age caught up with him, Mathare United began struggling on the balance sheet side of things. This made him to mobilize the more than 150 MYSA alumni who dot every nook and cranny of Kenya’s economy structures.

The alumni are meant to contribute money that will enable MYSA to run without donor support.

MYSA won several global awards, but the highlight for Munro and MYSA are the 2003 and 2004 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Despite missing out on the honours, it underlines the good work Munro has done for Kenyan football and Kenyan youth. Fare thee well Bob, we still ask why you never got Kenyan citizenship.