Football Kenya Federation Premier League (FKFPL) side Kenya Police FC have defended the decision to sell off top striker Elvis Rupia to Tanzanian club Singida.Former coach Francis Barasa who has sued the club for unfair dismissal had claimed in his affidavit that the selling of Rupia was one of the reasons the team performed poorly at the beginning of this season.Vihiga Bullets parts way with George OwokoOn Wednesday, the law keepers insisted it was necessary to sell off the striker and bring in new players.“It is a normal practice to sell your best players and buy others and that is what we did and that did not have any impact on the performance of the team since those who replaced Rupia were equally good,” Steve Nzonyo the Kenya Police FC liaison officer told the sports tribunal on Wednesday.The Kenya Police FC official was being cross-examined by Barasa’s lawyer Japheth Munyendo.He admitted that the club did not call Barasa for a disciplinary hearing before firing him insisting that the then-existing contract between the two parties allowed them to let him go as the coach was allegedly in breach of it.##NAJAVA_MECA_7873449##“The contract has a self-execution clause and it reached a point where this was initiated as the performance of the team was wanting. We gave him one more chance to salvage the situation but he did not,” he said.He also accused Barasa of not informing the club about an injury he suffered on August 14 last year while playing in a match involving Kenyan legends.“We were not aware about the injury until later on and this was only when we saw him on crutches. He never informed us about it at all.”The two parties have been given until March 13 to make written submissions before a ruling is made by the end of next month.Barasa wants the law keepers to pay him more than Ksh 5 million for wrongful dismissal.CAF sanctions Krépin Diatta
