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Fifa has stood firm on its recent decision that the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) should hold fresh elections despite a joint crusade by both the association and Sports Council that the world soccer governing body should clarify some crucial issues they raised.
Fifa’s deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne stressed in a telephone interview from federation’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday morning that whatever the case, the association should hold fresh elections to avoid worsening the current situation.
“We feel the situation at Fam is dragging unnecessarily and to avoid further confusion there should be fresh elections which should be held under totally acceptable conditions.
“The Malawi Football Association has written us asking for further clarification and we will be responding accordingly but the bottomline is that for the good of Malawian football there is need for fresh elections because things went wrong at the very beginning,” said Champagne, who refused to answer further questions insisting on an e-mail questionnaire.
In its latest letter to Fam copied to Sports Council, Caf and Cosafa, Fifa directed that the executive which was elected at the association’s Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held in Mzuzu last year, should run the show “until new elections are conducted under totally satisfactory conditions.”
Fifa also stressed that the elections will only be held when modifications to the Fam statutes submitted by Fifa in December last year are integrated into the constitution.
“New elections shall take place within the shortest statutory deadline once the Malawi Football Association statutes have been amended according to Fifa comments,” read part of the letter signed by the federation’s general secretary Urs Linsi.
But the Council’s boss George Jana said on Friday that the said modifications were not brought to the attention of the ad-hoc committee that drafted the new Fam constitution.
“Unfortunately the modifications were not brought to the committee’s attention and that is why they were not included in the constitution,” said Jana.
He also described Fifa’s insistence as a costly exercise.
“Fifa is not addressing our concerns that when they say fresh elections do they mean that even those that met the constitutional requirements should be affected. If it is so why are they not putting it in writing?” Wondered Jana.
The Council boss stressed that unless the concerns raised by both Council and Fifa are addressed, it will be difficult to meet the federation’s directives.
“It should be noted that a lengthy period has now passed since the issue started and that the current situation is not helping Malawi football. The situation is not helping the cause of football development in the country,” observed Jana.
Meanwhile local soccer experts have expressed different opinions on the cause of confusion in the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) which has been receiving conflicting directives from Sports Council and world football governing body, Fifa since the December elections.
Some experts are pointing at their fingers at Fifa with others blaming Council for the unending confusion. But others feel both Council and Fifa are blameless.
Former Football Association of Malawi treasurer David Dube feels the Council is to blame for the confusion.
“To me Fifa is right to call for fresh elections. At first the body said those elected should continue because it had not studied the situation thoroughly. But after getting a true picture, the body has seen that there was a fundamental error by Council.
“It is this error, which has prompted Fifa to call for fresh elections. If we begin making amends, we are allowing the error to rule us. Because Council allowed members who did not meet a constitutional requirement to contest, the whole process was null and void. Therefore, Fifa is right to call for fresh elections,” said Dube.
Director of Sports in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture Bester Kalombo felt Council was providing a platform for Fifa to dictate matters for Fam.
“It is our own weakness. We are going to Fifa all the time when Malawi is a sovereign state. We don’t have to take every issue to Fifa. We have to make our own decisions basing on our constitutions. What’s the point in saying those who fulfilled a constitutional requirement should contest again?
“May be Fifa is doing all this because Council accepted that it erred but normally Fifa follows what national associations recommend,” said Kalombo.
But former Bakili Bullets executive member Peter Jere blamed Fifa of creating a crisis where there was no crisis.
“I believe Fam has got a constitution. Before looking anywhere, people have to look at this constitution. Fifa is not an angel and if we are doing something that is legally correct, the body does not have any right to question us.
“To me Fifa is creating a crisis where there is no crisis at all. There was a crisis when a quorum was lacking in the executive but now there is a quorum and Fam can come up with decisions that are binding. Fifa has to say whether the error made by Council nullifies the whole congress,” said jere.
But Coaches Association of Malawi general secretary Peterkins Kayira felt both Council and Fifa were not to blame.
“It’s the electorate or the affiliates, who are to blame. We deliberately chose wrong people into the positions. Personally I feel if Kalombo was elected, we could not have faced these problems,” said Kayira.
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