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Sports Minister Henry Chimunthu Banda has welcomed the election of former MTL Wanderers general secretary and national team defender Walter Nyamilandu as the new Fam president.
Nyamilandu won the presidency last Saturday with a landslide victory when he amassed 69 votes out of the 104 votes cast.
On second position was former Fam executive member Hastings Kapenuka with 27 votes while former Flames team manager Kelvin Mmangisa was third with seven votes.
Former Fam president and Cosafa vice president Geoff Gondwe was disqualified because the Malawi National Examinations Boards (Maneb) said the candidate does not have the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE), according to Sports Council executive secretary George Jana who made the announcement.
In an interview on Sunday, Chimunthu Banda said he hopes the coming in of Nyamilandu would open another chapter for the troubled Fam.
“I think we are bound to see an improvement in the administration because when we look at the credentials Nyamilandu has, one becomes very optimistic.
“He called me yesterday [Sunday] and I assured him of government support and we are wishing him good luck and success,” he said.
But Chimunthu Banda, who also described Nyamilandu as a hardworker, also had a word of caution for him, saying the newly elected president should be consulting relevant authorities such as the Sports Council, the ministry and other members of the secretariat.
“In any administration set-up, success is not a one-man’s job but team work. He should be a foresighted leader who should bring new and better ideas,” said Chimunthu Banda.
In his acceptance speech Nyamilandu said: “Today should be the turning point for Malawi football as we gear up for the 2010 World Cup. As you know, my vision is that Malawi should qualify for the world cup because that is a benchmark for measuring the performance of any country in football,” he said.
But the president said before Malawi can build a strong national team, there is need to invest in the youth development programmes to provide a nursery for the country’s Super League clubs.
Nyamilandu is scheduled to meet the minister towards the end of this week for a familiarisation chat.
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