Bullets blow stakeholders’ shares, no money for Sudan trip

Big Bullets are in a tight spot ahead of their CAF Champions League first round, first-leg away tie against Al Hilal of Sudan as they have blown stakeholders’ shares from the proceeds of last Saturday’s preliminary round encounter against Fomboni Club De Moheil.

Among the stakeholders that were supposed to get shares from the proceeds are government [25 percent ground levy] and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) [10 percent from gross].

According to general secretary Harold Fote, the People’s Team made a gross of about K20 million (US$44 444), but they claim the money has been channelled towards settling costs of the match against Fomboni.

To worsen matters, Bullets also claim that they currently have no money to meet costs of their trip to Sudan estimated at K14.5 million (US$32 222) for a delegation of 30 members.

“We are in a very tight situation as we have blown all the revenue from the gate collections by settling costs incurred to host the Fomboni match,” said Fote.

Asked why they had to use the stakeholders’ share before declaring, Fote said: “These are debts that needed to be settled urgently and we did it on the assumption that government promised to help us and that is why we are hopeful that as their baby who is carrying the Malawi flag, they will understand our situation, so too FAM.”

Outlining the breakdown of the costs, the Bullets GS  claimed that  $4 500 [about K2 million] was used to pay match officials allowances, K628 000 [refund for match officials’ local transport], K1.7 million [food and accommodation for referees at ProteaRyalls], K3.5 million [food and accommodation for Fomboni at Dorvic Hotel], K1.4 million [for hiring a coaster, minibus, two vehicles and fuel], K5.3 million [settling players’ local and external dues] and K1.4 million [settling technical committees] dues.

He also confirmed that as at now the team has nothing in its coffers ahead of the trip to Sudan slated for this coming Friday.

“We have nothing, but we are optimistic that a ray of light will appear in the dark clouds hovering above us. We are busy running around to raise money for the trip,” he said.

Fote also said as of yesterday, they did not have a tentative budget for the Sudan trip as he was still waiting to get details of accommodation and food costs in Sudan from his Al Hilal counterpart.

“But the plan is that we should leave this Friday for Tanzania where we will play a friendly match against Young Africans on Tuesday before proceeding to Sudan by air. They have agreed to meet the costs of hosting us, including an appearance fee,” he said.

However, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Justin Saidi yesterday said they were not aware of Bullets’ arrangement to use government’s share from the Fomboni match proceeds.

“That is news to me. We have no communication whatsoever to that effect and in as far as we are concerned, they are supposed to remit government’s 25 percent share otherwise we will be queried by authorities.

“It would be against financial management procedures if they did that. And if they did that on the assumption that they asked us for a waiver then it is totally wrong and unprocedural because they were supposed to write a formal letter which we would have referred to Treasury for their perusal. That is how it works,” said Saidi.

Asked what would be the consequences should Bullets fail to pay government levy, Saidi said: “I do not want to jump into conclusions because as I said, they have not communicated to us and the assumption is that they are keeping government’s levy.”

Sports Council executive secretary George Jana said Bullets needed to declare the money before using it.

“Some of these debts might not be related, you need to have a full declaration and consent  prior to spending so that people are aware, otherwise they will be shooting themselves in the foot as they still need to play a return match against Al Hilal,” said Jana.

FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda and president Walter Nyamilandu could not be reached for comment.