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Bakili Bullets current executive committee has summoned its predecessors to a meeting this Sunday at Blantyre Sports Club to make handovers and clear up on accounts related issues.
Club general secretary Willie Phalula said on Tuesday that the decision has been taken because it is becoming increasingly difficult for the present executive committee’s operations without the records from the previous committee.
“For example only last week our bus was nearly seized by sheriffs who were acting on behalf of Mpingwe Lodge because of an outstanding debt amounting to about K400,000 ($3,703) but the issue was resolved amicably.
“And then there are also other debts amounting to millions of kwachas owed to Kips Restaurant, Blockbuster Video and S & K Furnitures. We want to find out how these debts were incurred because they had enough sponsorship money.
“In addition to that we do not know whether the team had any bank accounts and whether they are still operational. So we will be putting forward such questions,” explained the Bullets spokesman.
Phalula also said following the previous committee’s failure to make handovers in time, the new committee has been forced to present a fresh K9 million budget to the team’s sponsor former president Bakili Muluzi.
“We only heard that they presented a budget of about K15 million but we have no records on that. However, we have submitted our own budget totalling to K9 million for the season.
“The present committee will not be extravagant to the extent of going out of the budget to buy furniture for players worth millions of kwachas, we’ll not do that...we’ll stick to our budget for the sake of transparency and accountability,” he said.
Asked if the new committee is ready to inherit the debts incurred by the previous committee, the Bullets general secretary said: “There is nothing we can do about it, we are now in office and it is our responsibility, otherwise we can be sued.
“The only thing that we will ask from our creditors is that we should come up with an arrangement on how we should square the debts.”
Former vice general secretary Ibrahim Patel concurred with Phalula in a separate interview saying the handover meeting is indeed long over due.
“We have to give the new committee the records so that they should have a picture of what is there. There are indeed debts that have to be paid to lawyers, Kips Restaurant, Sacranie and Gow, Blockbuster Video, S & K Furniture and even the former chairman Hassam Jussab who is owed over K3 million.
“In fact the directors of Blockbuster Video and S and K Furniture made it clear that should the club fail to pay the debt, then they will get it from Jussab because he was the guarantor,” said Patel.
But Patel defended his colleagues on the delay of the handovers saying the meeting could not take place because Jussab was away in South Africa until recently.
“But we have no problems in making the handovers after all we are all Bullets,” said Patel.
And asked whether the team is prepared to pay Jussab, Phalula said: “We cannot just pay, there has to be proper documentation that Jussab indeed rent the club some money.”
In a related development, an inside source disclosed recently that Muluzi has lived to his word and has started funding the club.
“He gave the team K600,000 soon after beating MTL Wanderers in their first Super League game in which the players were paid K12,000 each as game bonus.
“But it is understood that the former president stressed that he did want to see the issue in the press,” said the source.
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