Editor’s note: Some names have been changed to protect people who say they fear retaliation. Philip Onyango Ombajo and Joy Mupalia are named because their names are already in the public domain. Onyango has denied wrongdoing. Allegations described in this story remain disputed unless otherwise stated by court records or official findings.
Joy Mupalia, a former Strathmore University basketball player, says she traveled to Nairobi hoping for a chance to revive her basketball career.
Instead, she says, she found herself in a hotel room with Philip Onyango Ombajo, a former Kenyan youth basketball coach who had promised to help her join the Kenya Ports Authority women’s basketball team.
Mupalia says Onyango booked one room for both of them, pressured her for sex, and later insulted her when she refused.
Onyango denies the allegations.
“NEVER, NEVER, NEVER for the close to 31 years, I have been coaching netball and basketball in Kenya,” Onyango said. “Not even a report to the school principal or local chief.”
He said the accusations were fabricated to push him out of basketball and block him from traveling with the national women’s basketball team.
“These things were just cooked to get me out of basketball and hence deny me the chance to travel to Rwanda with the national women’s basketball team, for which I was the technical assistant,” Onyango said.
Mupalia rejected that claim.
“That’s not true,” she said. “Just how? This is ridiculous, it makes me laugh.”
More women describe alleged misconduct
Mupalia’s account led other women to speak to The Africana Voice about their experiences with Onyango.
Carolina, whose name has been changed, said Onyango tried to pursue sex with her twice. She said one incident happened when she was 17 and still in high school.
Husna, whose name also has been changed, said Onyango repeatedly tried to pursue a sexual relationship while he was her coach.
Tamira, another woman whose name has been changed, said Onyango reduced her playing time after she refused his advances.
Three veteran basketball players also said other women had confided in them about alleged sexual harassment or assault by Onyango.
Those women have not spoken publicly. Some, according to people familiar with the matter, have considered pursuing their complaints through other legal channels.
The Africana Voice is withholding some details to protect the identities of women who say they fear retaliation.
VIRAL AUDIO OF MUPALIA SPEAKING TO A FRIEND TRIGGERED ACCUSATIONS AGAINST COACH PHILIP ONYANGO
Viral audio brought the case into public view
Mupalia’s allegations became public after an audio recording of her describing the Nairobi hotel incident circulated on social media.
Mupalia later filed an attempted rape complaint against Onyango.
A public prosecutor declined to charge Onyango at the time, citing insufficient evidence.
In a handwritten note signed by J. Mburugu, PPC Makadara Law Court, the prosecutor gave three reasons for declining the attempted rape charge: no medical report showing bruises or injuries, no torn clothing or similar evidence of struggle, and reliance on the complainant’s testimony without corroboration.
The note did not declare Onyango innocent. It said there was insufficient evidence to charge him with attempted rape.
Mupalia said she disagreed with the decision.
“There is just lots of evidence because there are also other victims, and the hotel CCTV is also there, but they refused us to see them,” Mupalia said.
It remains unclear whether police or prosecutors reviewed hotel surveillance footage before making the decision.
FIDA explores legal options
The Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya, known as FIDA, represented Mupalia pro bono after the complaint.
“Our in-house legal team and pro bono advocate are exploring various legal options on this,” Wanjiru Kamanda, FIDA deputy executive director, said in an email.
Nairobi lawyer Walters Omondi said that a decision not to prosecute due to insufficient evidence does not necessarily end a case.
“The prosecutor is not saying the alleged offender is innocent,” Omondi said. “All he is saying is that there is not enough evidence to prosecute. If they get evidence, they will prosecute.”
Omondi said sexual offense complaints in Kenya can still be pursued years later, depending on the evidence and the charge.
Kenya’s Sexual Offenses Act also includes a provision on sexual harassment involving abuse of authority.
Any charging decision would rest with prosecutors after reviewing the available evidence.
Messages show promise of basketball opportunity
Mupalia said she contacted Onyango because she believed he could help her find a basketball opportunity.
“I knew he had connections to go abroad, and that was my dream to get a team abroad,” Mupalia said.
WhatsApp messages reviewed by The Africana Voice show Mupalia asked Onyango whether he had contacts who could help her play outside Kenya.
“Natafuta team majuu ama popote outside Kenya,” Mupalia wrote. “Maybe unaweza kuwa na connection mahali ukanisaidia.”
Translation: “I’m looking to join a team in the U.S. or anywhere outside Kenya. Maybe you have connections to help me?”
Onyango asked her age and whether she had completed school.
“I am 22 years old,” Mupalia replied. “Nimemaliza diploma tu.”
Translation: “I’m 22 years old. I only completed a diploma.”
“Ok, your age is alright,” Onyango replied. “Let me talk to my contacts abroad, then revert.”
When asked to identify contacts who had helped players reach the U.S., Onyango provided names of schools, including Union University, Oklahoma Baptist, Wayland College, Tyler Junior College, Cisco College, and Bethel.
The Africana Voice contacted Union University for confirmation, but did not receive a response.
Onyango also shared a supportive message from Beatrice Awino, who played college basketball at Union University in Tennessee from 2007 to 2011.
“Coach Philip struggled with us all the way from the village to give us a better life,” Awino said in a WhatsApp message. “If it wasn’t for him, most of us here in the USA would not have made it this far.”
The Nairobi hotel encounter
Mupalia said she believed Onyango could help her reach the next level.
She said he picked her up after she arrived in Nairobi and took her to a hotel he had already booked.
“When I arrived in Nairobi, he picked me up from the bus stop and took me to a hotel he had already booked,” Mupalia said. “When we entered the hotel, he only picked one key at the reception.”
Mupalia said she objected to sharing one room.
“I warned him and told him to pick another room, but he became so harsh to me,” she said. “I really did not expect something like that.”
Mupalia said Onyango later undressed and pressured her for sex.
“Kidogo kidogo, naona jamaa anatoa nguo,” Mupalia said in the audio recording.
Translation: “Suddenly, I saw him removing his clothes.”
Mupalia said Onyango told her sending bus fare to Nairobi was not free because he was not her boyfriend.
She said he then sought sex from her. She refused.
“He undressed and only remained with his boxers,” Mupalia said. “I fought him, and he left me alone.”
Mupalia said Onyango later insulted her.
“He said he has money, and he is offering to help and I am misbehaving,” Mupalia said. “He said I am cursed. That’s why I am not in school. They are disgusting. I can’t even say the insults.”
Onyango has denied attempting to rape or sexually harass Mupalia.
Mupalia’s father says the family expected different arrangements
Andrew Mupalia Simiyu, Mupalia’s father, said Onyango presented himself as someone who could help his daughter continue her basketball career.
“He told me he was willing to take her, enroll her at KPA, then she will be getting some allowances to keep herself going,” Simiyu said.
Simiyu said he did not ask Onyango to pay Mupalia’s bus fare.
“I never asked him for it,” Simiyu said. “He needed her to go immediately.”
Simiyu said he first learned there was a problem when his daughter called her mother at night.
He said the family expected her to have separate accommodation if she had to spend the night in Nairobi.
“She had expected, if it means sleeping, she would be booked in her own room, or together with one of her female colleague players,” Simiyu said. “But to her surprise, this man had booked one room for himself and for her.”
Simiyu said Onyango called him that night and told him Mupalia had changed her mind about traveling to Mombasa.
“He said, ‘Joy, she looks like she has declined the offer to go to Mombasa, and she wants to travel back immediately early in the morning,’” Simiyu said. “I pressed him further, but he was not able to explain.”
Mupalia could not leave that night because Kenya was under a COVID-19 curfew.
KPA official says Onyango had no authority to recruit alone
WhatsApp messages reviewed by The Africana Voice show Onyango discussed the possibility of Mupalia joining KPA.
On June 6, 2021, Onyango wrote: “So you left Strathmore kabisa?”
Mupalia replied: “Yeah, I’m not there anymore.”
Onyango then wrote: “Wooi. Si ungesema nikuchukue KPA.”
Translation: “If you had told me, I would have taken you as a player in KPA.”
Later, after Mupalia said KPA already had many good players, Onyango reassured her.
“Lakini wewe huwezi kosa namba,” he wrote.
Translation: “But you will not miss a spot.”
Mupalia asked whether the coach would let her join.
“Si mimi pia ni coach KPA ama?” Onyango replied.
Translation: “Am I not also a KPA coach?”
Onyango told The Africana Voice that he had approval to recruit Mupalia.
“I discussed her case with all the KPA sports officials, including TM, coach and administrator, who both approved,” Onyango said.
KPA sports officer Lennox Safari disputed Onyango’s account.
“On the issue of Philip traveling to Nairobi, we were not aware as a team,” Safari said. “Philip was not an employee of the Authority. This contract was only to enable Philip to get some allowance at the time of traveling out of Mombasa.”
Safari said KPA did not allow technical bench members to share rooms with players.
He described the hotel-room arrangement as an ethical violation.
KPA and Nation Media Group cut ties
After the allegations became public, KPA removed Onyango from its women’s basketball technical bench.
“The Authority has received allegations of sexual abuse against yourself by Ms. Joy Mupalia,” Daniel Ogutu, KPA general manager of human resources and administration, wrote in a July 7, 2021, letter.
“It is alleged that the said incident occurred while you were meeting the player for the purposes of potential recruitment to the KPA ladies basketball team,” the letter said.
“You’re hereby removed from being a member of the team’s technical bench with immediate effect for your inappropriate behavior and actions,” Ogutu wrote.
Nation Media Group also ended its contributor arrangement with Onyango.
“Onyango was a contracted contributor to the Nation Media Group,” Managing Editor Elias Makori said. “Once the allegations were brought to our attention, we terminated his services immediately.”
Makori said there was a difference between a contributor and a staff writer.
“A correspondent is basically contracted to be paid on a contribution basis and is not permanent and pensionable,” Makori said.
Makori said Nation Media Group has a sexual harassment policy.
Other women describe an alleged pattern
Several women described encounters they said followed a similar structure: a basketball opportunity, help with travel or housing, then alleged sexual pressure.
Husna, whose name has been changed, said she attended a live-in basketball camp at Onyango’s home in Mombasa. She said Onyango did not allow male visitors and often questioned girls about men.
“He never wanted to see any male talk to us,” Husna said. “To him, that was a crime.”
Husna said Onyango once made a sexual comment to players.
“He used to call us on a meeting and even dared to tell us, ‘hizo vitu mnawapa machali zenu wenye hawawezi kuwanunulia pads si mnipe tu mimi?’”
Translation: “Why don’t you give me those things that you’re giving your broke boyfriends who cannot even afford to buy you sanitary pads?”
Husna said Onyango tried to get her drunk and then pursue sex.
“Mine was him trying to buy me alcoholic drinks so that I can get drunk and take that advantage,” Husna said.
Tamira, another woman whose name has been changed, said Onyango made a sexual comment when she asked why she was not getting more playing time.
“One time, I asked Coach Philip why I am not getting playtime, and he said, ‘I spotted you when you were a young girl and virgin too. You’ve given it to a lot of people now except me,’” Tamira said. “He said it casually, but I didn’t take it lightly.”
Carolina, whose name has been changed, said she had two troubling encounters with Onyango.
She said the first happened in 2005 during a high school basketball tournament, when she was 17. Carolina said Onyango asked her to accompany him, saying he needed to pick something up outside Nairobi.
She said they ended up at a lodging.
Carolina said Onyango bought alcohol and later asked her to come upstairs to his room.
“He asked me what I wanted to have, and I asked for a Fanta soda,” Carolina said. “He said no.”
Carolina said she understood that to mean he wanted her to drink alcohol.
She said Onyango later asked her into a room with one bed.
“He’s like, ‘Why don’t you come in?’” Carolina said. “And I’m like, ‘I’ll just wait for you here. Just pick up your whatever.’”
Carolina said Onyango insisted they sit and talk.
“I get in the room, and he tells me, ‘Why don’t you come into the bed?’” Carolina said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m not gonna do that.’”
Carolina said the second incident happened around 2012, when she agreed to play for Onyango’s team in Mombasa.
She said Onyango invited her to stay at his house, where other female players also lived.
At night, she said, Onyango asked to speak with her privately in his bedroom.
“He asked me to go to his bedroom for a conversation,” Carolina said. “He calls me in, and I told him, ‘Let’s talk.’ And he told me, ‘No, lock the door.’”
Carolina said Onyango then tried to pursue sex with her.
“I wouldn’t do anything. If I wanted something from you, I would ask directly,” Carolina recalled Onyango saying. “Besides, is it wrong? I’m not a married man. And you see, I don’t have a wife here. I also have my urges.”
Carolina said she refused.
She said Onyango later reminded her that he had paid her fare to Mombasa. She said he repeated the comment in front of teammates, which embarrassed her and contributed to her decision to stop playing for his team.
Onyango has denied sexual misconduct allegations.
Questions for Kenyan basketball
The allegations have raised broader questions about power in Kenyan women’s basketball, especially where coaches control access to schools, teams, housing, travel and national selection.
Some women interviewed by The Africana Voice said Onyango helped players find opportunities. Others said those same power structures left young women vulnerable.
One veteran basketball figure, whose name has been changed to Kariba, said two women had told him Onyango sexually harassed them. Kariba said they feared reporting because they did not trust the police to act.
KBF officials declined to comment for this story.
The case remains a test for Kenyan basketball, not only because of what Mupalia says happened in one Nairobi hotel room, but because several women now say the sport lacked clear systems to protect them when coaches held power over their careers.
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