Azimio La Umoja presidential flagbearer, Raila Amollo Odinga, played a central role in helping a British-born Kenyan footballer earn an opportunity to play for the national team, Harambee Stars.
Taiwo Atieno, the former Walsall and Puerto Rico Islanders forward, was born in Brixton, London, the capital of United Kingdom, to a Kenyan father and a British mother.
He kickstarted his football career in England and the US where he played for a number of top clubs attracting interest even from the England national team, The Three Lions.
He, however, snubbed Three Lions choosing to play for Harambee stars. But his decision was met with a lot of challenges until the former Prime Minister intervened.
Before Raila's intervention, Taiwo had knocked on many doors in his bid to represent Kenya on the international stage. But when he was just about to give up, he met Raila who made his dream come alive.
"I had declared my intention to play for the national team (Harambee Stars) in 2003. But a lot of things had to happen before I could come.
"I first made contact with KFF in 2003 but they told me that Kenya was serving a FIFA ban. Three to four years went by and then we had the post-election violence (2007). We began correspondences again in 2008 and I arrived at the beginning of 2009,” stated Taiwo, who retired from football in 2014 before venturing into business.
He encountered the challenge because of not holding a Kenyan citizenship.
“But there was another challenge. The Kenyan Constitution then had no provision for dual citizenship. So they wanted me to renounce my British citizenship and I wasn’t able to do that because I was playing abroad (Puerto Rico)," Taiwo explained.
But Raila helped him gain the right to play for Harambee Stars after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution.
"That is when I went to see former Prime Minister (Raila Odinga) who gave me special designation under the new Constitution (2010),” Taiwo stated in a past interview.
He eventually made his debut as a late substitute in a June 2009 qualifier against Mozambique.
But after waiting close to seven years to play for Stars, Taiwo, who won the USL Commissioner’s Cup (First Division) with Puerto Rico Islanders in 2008, would only last for four years with the national team.
After playing both home and away against Mozambique, Taiwo would take a three-year absence from the national team after his appearance with Stars in a 1–0 qualifying loss to Tunisia.
His final game for Stars was an 85th-minute substitute appearance in a 2–1 win over Togo in 2013 the AFCON qualifiers. Some people have never forgiven him for not meeting their expectations when he eventually made his national team debut against Mozambique in 2010.
After hanging his boots, Taiwo opened up on his plans to empower society by building a football academy in Migori County.