Nyasa speaks out

• Allay sponsorship pull-out fears
• BB chair admits team is in a mess

Nyasa Manufacturing Company (NMC), sponsors of Nyasa Big Bullets, have dispelled fears that they could withdraw sponsorship in the wake of resignations that have hit the People’s Team trusteeship.

Push came to shove on Thursday following the resignation of the club’s finance and administration chairperson Fleetwood Haiya, who is NMC finance director, raising fears that the sponsors could drop a bombshell.

But NMC managing director Dimitri Kalaitzis allayed the fears on Thursday evening, saying they have no plans to withdraw their sponsorship.

“We are committed to see out the sponsorship agreement. We will not pull out but, obviously, as a key partner we would like to see this confusion sorted out for the good of the team.

“As sponsors, we will not interfere with the direct operations of the team, but we would want to operate in an environment that is conducive.

“Our priority is to see to it that players are happy and that preparations for the new season are on course,” he said.

NMC signed a five-year K500 million partnership agreement with the People’s Team early last year.

But the club’s chairperson Noel Lipipa yesterday issued a stern warning that the confusion which has rocked the club could affect sponsorship.

“No sponsor would be happy to operate in the current environment and the first thing is to accept that we are in a crisis and then find a solution.

“We cannot run away from the fact that we are in a constitutional crisis because we cannot operate without trustees. It is like the team is on autopilot.

“I have called for a meeting with the main supporters committee tomorrow [today] to map the way forward,” he said.

The main supporters’ committee chairperson Stone Mwamadi and secretary Mabvuto Chibambo could not be reached for comment.

However, a Blantyre-based Bullets follower Kelvin Chifunda blamed the confusion on supporters.

“The supporters’ committee needs to take the blame for all this mess due to greed. They do not want the team to take the commercial route so as to advance their personal interests and this is sad,” he said.

But former supporters’ committee treasurer Bruce Tambwali defended his fellow supporters, saying they were just following the club’s constitution.

The resignations come in the wake of differences within the People’s Team camp over the direction the team should take regarding administration.

The first to resign was board chairperson James Busilley who was followed by Gregory Madeya before the others, including vice-chairperson Fred Kwacha and secretary Jim Kalua also followed suit.