Ex-BB chair taken to task
Some ex-Nyasa Big Bullets officials have summoned the club’s former chairperson Noel Lipipa to explain how the club’s takeover by Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC) was effected without signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU).
The group’s spokesperson and former executive committee member Leo Kambalame yesterday said failure by Lipipa to produce the document is raising a lot of suspicion.
“During the last EGM [extraordinary general meeting] that we had in Lilongwe, we assigned a group led by our former chairperson [Lipipa] to carry out the transaction on our behalf and the instruction was that after the entire process is done, he [Lipipa] should revert and inform us on the outcome.
“Surprisingly, a couple of weeks ago we heard that the takeover process had been finalised and yet the meeting to brief the members on the process has not taken place,” he said.
Kambalame said they have appointed a delegation to meet Lipipa either today or tomorrow to seek his explanation on the issue.
“The last time we asked him [Lipipa] on the matter, he admitted that an MoU was not signed which was in contrast to what was agreed at the EGM. But he assured us that he would follow it up with the lawyers that were representing the two camps and that the MoU would be signed.
“Now, our concern is that there is no MoU and yet the takeover process was done and we want him to explain how that happened. We will demand documents pertaining to the transfer of administration and ensure that it is adhered to and enforced by a binding legal agreement,” he said.
Kambalame said the first step only involves the club’s side and not NMC, saying: “First things first. Let us hear from the people we entrusted with the process and thereafter, we will map the way forward. We will not succumb until we get to the bottom of the matter.
“We are not against NMC takeover because if we were, then we could not have endorsed it at the EGM, but our interest is whether the procedure was followed, otherwise how are we going to ensure that Nyasa are adhering to the conditions that we gave?” he asked.
The former Bullets official said they have engaged a lawyer for guidance.
Lipipa yesterday said there were indeed some challenges surrounding the deal.
“There are a lot of things that were indeed not followed…tiri pampeni abwana.
“There are a lot of shortcuts being applied by the other side and when some of us raise such issues, we are being deemed as confusionists, but I will stand by the truth and I will tell club members everything that they need to know. Otherwise, things are getting out of hand and the situation is not healthy for the team,” said Lipipa who is now the club’s director responsible for sales and marketing.
NMC chief executive officer Fleetwood Haiya could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The club’s former general secretary Harold Fote yesterday reiterated that the development vindicates those who all along have been arguing that the deal was rushed “as supporters were not given an opportunity to give their input into the MoU which was never there”.
He said: “We demanded public scrutiny of the document. There was no way we would dispose of a big club like Bullets without first undertaking due diligence which would inform the nature and magnitude of investment, but this was not done.” n
