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by
George Kasakula, 06 August 2004
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16:00:16
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Bakuwa has it
I liked the candour and courage taken by Sulom’s disciplinary committee chairman George Bakuwa towards the Bakili Bullets who until Thursday had not paid about K2.5 million as transfer fees for the nine players that the outfit bought from MDC, Dwasco, Admarc Tigers and Super Escom. Bakuwa insisted that since the deadline which provided that Bullets will have settled the arrears by Friday had passed, the players no longer belonged to BB. He further argued that Bullets must lose all points from Super League games in which the nine players were featured. Unless someone has personal interests in Bakili Bullets, I cannot see how they could have punched holes in this argument. The excuse that Bullets could not have paid the money because their sponsor former president Bakili Muluzi was away cannot hold here because when the deadline was being made to which Bullets were party, it never arose. Keep the fire burning Bakuwa. We need people like you with an objective mind to run soccer in this country.
It’s Mponda’s future
It is sad that Peter Mponda has failed to clinch a deal with South Africa champions Kaizer Chiefs because that could have possibly meant a spring board for great things. But more sad are the difficult-to-understand reasons behind it. The official reason from Kaizer Chiefs general manager Bobby Motaung that Mponda could not have been taken on board because the team’s priority was signing a natural-left-foot is very funny and empty. The team cannot claim that it did not know right from the beginning that Mponda was a central defender and not a left fullback. And then there is the unofficial reason. Mponda claims that he phoned Motaung to find out what was happening and he was told Chiefs got scared after learning that Bullets, through chairman Hassam Jussab, had put an exorbitant price of K27 million on Mponda’s head. How Jussab came up with this starting price, as his treasurer says, only God knows. Suffice to say that it reveals the chaotic nature of how things are run in BB. Anyone can wake up one day and dream of price tags for players. It has cost Mponda a future.
Nothing new
There is nothing new to what Flames coach John Kaputa said during a meeting with Sports Minister Henry Chimunthu Banda as regards the divisions that he claimed rocked Flames technical panel consisting of Kaputa himself, Kinnah Phiri and Dave Mpesi. It is something that has been well known throughout. What was new was Kaputa’s revelation that the three were not paid for three months. It’s surprising that Fam’s officials joined the bandwagon in criticising the coaches for the below par performance of the Flames when they knew that they were part of the problem. They did not keep their part of the bargain to pay the three. Fam, as the Chimunthu Banda meeting noted, is in bad shape. Most people who went there are there did so through dubious means. But one thing for sure is that they cannot assist the nation to develop soccer. As the election for the association’s president draws to close, we need people with credibility to go there. I must say I am impressed with the names I have heard so far. Walter Nyamilandu, Geoff Gondwe and others can make a difference if elected.
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