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Questions linger over the amount of money the women national team spent during camping early last month.
The team camped at Mtendere International Conference Centre in Blantyre in preparation for the first leg of the Caf women league against Ethiopia.
In an interview, a highly placed official at the Mpira House said the association spent up to K976,000 ($9,037) for accommodation only at the centre where 30 people (26 players and four officials) camped for ten days.
The source said Mtendere was chosen because it is close to Chichiri Stadium where the match was played.
But a Nation Online visit to Mtendere reception showed that the charge for the hostels is K650 per bed per night which means that team was supposed to spend K195,000 on accommodation and not K976,000.
The team’s assistant coach Stewart Mbolembole, who was also in camp, said in an interview he did not know the amount of money spent on accommodation but confirmed only 30 people were in camp.
“I don’t know how much was spent for accommodation, but maybe if you call Fam,” he said.
Fam general secretary Roosevelt Mpinganjira refused to reveal the breakdown of the expenditure the team incurred.
“What I know is that we spent K1.2 million for accommodation, food, training allowances, and accommodation of the visiting team.
“Right now, I am busy writing something which is due and I cannot give you that information,” said Mpinganjira.
Mpinganjira also accused the press of reporting bad things about his association “when there are more good things you [media] do not write”.
But in a separate interview yesterday, Fam spokesperson McCollins Chibvunde said he did not know about the K976,000 but K800,000.
“We spent over K800,000 on accommodation and it included the allowances of the girls [players],” he said, adding that he had earlier on suggested that the team camps at Kamuzu Academy because it would have been cheaper
He said if the camping was done at Kamuzu Academy, K500,000 was would have been enough for 30 people to camp there for 30 days and not only for 10 days.
The Malawi women soccer team lost 0-4 to the visiting Ethiopia during the first leg of the cup before being slaughtered 0-5 in Addis Ababa in the return leg two weeks later.
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