Success needs a focused leader
A wise person once said ‘a good dancer knows when to leave the stage’. I was reminded of this saying in the past week with the news that Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu has had a change of heart and has decided to contest for a fifth-term.
Previously, Nyamilandu, who has been at the helm of FAM for 15 years, had said he would not contest in the FAM elections slated for December 2019. But he now says he had overwhelming pressure from FAM affiliates for him to contest.
In his candidacy announcement, Nyamilandu said he has unfinished projects which he hopes to complete if he is given another term.
What I see in all of this is nothing but gluttony. Remember he has been FAM president for 15 years, which is enough time to finish the projects. Nyamilandu should not lie to the nation and football lovers. He doesn’t have unfinished projects, rather he has unfinished personal ambitions and interests.
It is because of this that he has also fallen prey to bootlickers—the ones who are lying to him and pampering him with praise and exaggerations of his importance and achievements so much that even Nyamilandu is blind to the truth—that in the 15 years he has been at the helm of FAM, football in Malawi has not, in anyway, improved. This is a reality that any sober-minded Malawian must accept hence.
All the projects he has cited, yes were spearheaded by him, but were not his personal initiatives, and he did not spend his personal income. Meaning, it doesn’t really have to be Nyamilandu to finish the projects, anyone who succeeds him can complete them.
Bootlickers who want to benefit from Nyamilandu’s naivety are doing everything possible to blind him to the truth—that he needs to pave the way for others. Fifteen years is a lot of time for one to at least achieve half of goals they had set out to archieve.
No matter how too good you are, if you stay long, you will end up losing it. Remember: ‘A good dancer knows when to leave the stage’.
