Kenya Police FC and Harambee Stars midfielder Mohamed Bajaber is in a race against time to be fit for the national team's opening African Nations Championships (CHAN) fixture against the DR Congo on Sunday August 3.

Bajaber, who has been one of the standout performers for the national team during Benni McCarthy's reign as head coach, was seen training away from the main squad Wednesday, during open training for the national team.

Head coach McCarthy, speaking to the media at Kasarani Annexe where the squad is preparing for the upcoming fixtures, said that he is hoping that the playmaker can recover and assist the team come kick off.

“Bajaber got injured before we went to Morocco. My decision is that he is a good, young player who broke the system and quickly developed into a powerhouse. If you have those kinds of players, you give them every opportunity to be available for the squad because you cannot replace them easily,” McCarthy explained.

McCarthy revealed that at the moment, Bajaber cannot take part in physical training, saying that the aim is to preserve him for CHAN.

“It would be silly of me to let him train every day and lose him to injury days before CHAN, so we give him every possibility to be available. He is following a strict program with the fitness coach and physio that he works hard and starts to train with the team, but the minute training gets intense and people start kicking each other, you take him out so that we have him available for CHAN,” he added.

Bajaber was excluded from the Harambee Stars team that travelled to Morocco for the friendly matches against Chad on June 7 and 10 and was also missing for the Kenya Police side's Kenya Premier League title coronation.