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| Sports |
| Council justifies plot to dissolve Fam |
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by
Leonard Sharra, 19 August 2003
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17:48:27
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The Malawi National Council for Sports has justified its move to write the World’s soccer governing body, Fifa, about the alleged miladministration in Football Association of Malawi (Fam), saying it had tried, within its mandate to push for some changes in the operations of the association but to no avail.
Reacting to the observation by Fam’s acting spokesman George Kaudza Masina, who said council had betrayed the football body by writing Fifa without Fam’s knowledge, executive secretary George Jana said his organisation had tried to influence some change in Fam’s operations but the association was not listening.
“They may feel that we betrayed them and I can’t blame them for that but the bottom line of the issue is that they are a public office and have to be accountable to their affiliates. We had approached them several times, asking them to rectify a number of issues but they never listened.
“We could not continue discussing with people, who were disregarding the council’s authority,” said Jana.
The council boss said his body wrote Fifa, asking what the world soccer governing body would suggest on the issues raised.
He said: “We could have dissolved Fam straightaway but we know Fifa could have risen and say we were interfering with football. These things are very funny. If Fam come asking money from government and government provides the money, it is not football interference but when government tells them to account for its money, it is called interference.”
Jana said the council was only asking Fifa to allow it dissolve the current Fam executive and replace it with an interim committee.
“Basically Fifa should allow us dissolve the current executive and appoint an interim committee from within the affiliates. The main task for the interim committee should be to refine the Fam constitution, draw a proper football development and financial policy and enable fresh elections to take place within 90 days.”
Outlining some of the 10 strong points contained in the memo written to Fifa by the council, Jana said: “These are things we have talked about time and again. There is total lack of accountability and financial prudence in Fam. These people believe in finishing whatever resources are there. When there is a football match, the entire executive gets involved.
“Fam send four people to South Africa to purchase a bus when one can sit in the office here in Malawi and make all the necessary arrangements for purchasing the bus.
“Fam spent K16 million buying land for the Chiwembe project when they could have just asked government to give them land. They thought government could claim ownership of the project. The council could have even allocated them some land. There is a big land lying idle at the Kamuzu Institute for Sports.
He said the association does not have any deliberate plans of developing football, arguing what they have on their calendar are World Cup, African Cup of Nations Cup or Cosafa Cup activities.
“We also cited the lack of general management of the organisation which is always in serious debts. Fam has never been seen to have enough in anything. This is a complete failure of management
“If we watch Fam operate this way, it is the sport that will suffer and we don’t want this to happen. We are expecting Fifa to respond to our issues within this week,” concluded Jana.
Masina refused to comment on the issue, simply saying: “Fam will not comment on what the Council is saying. They are our mother body and we have to give them the respect they deserve as a mother body. We also expect them to respect us as their ‘baby.’ |
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