The clubs’ move comes in the wake of Super League of Malawi’s (Sulom) announcement that the new season will start on May 26.
Big guns Mighty Wanderers, Big Bullets, Silver Strikers and Escom United cited issues such as sponsorship for the forthcoming season, request to review gate-takings percentage, financial management, officiation and match-fixing as some of those that need to be addressed before the league can start.
Silver chairperson Dr. McDonald Mafuta-Mwale, his Escom counterpart Fanuel Nkhono, Wanderers general secretary David Kanyenda and Bullets acting general secretary Higger Mkandawire said Sulom seems to be afraid of calling for an AGM.
“To begin with, Sulom have not even bothered to brief us as their affiliates on the progress regarding sponsorship negotiations with TNM.
“Then, there are other issues such as the proposal to review gate-taking shares and the standard of officiation. If anything, Sulom is supposed to call for an AGM before the start of every season. One of the reasons why the previous management lost direction was because it wasn’t calling for the annual general assembly,” said Mafuta-Mwale..
Nkhono said Sulom also has an obligation to explain to the clubs the progress of sponsorship negotiations and their plans for the new season.
On his part, Kanyenda said: “We just got a text from the Sulom GS that the league is kicking off on May 26 and we are lodging a formal complaint because there are a number of outstanding issues that need to be cleared. It would seem Sulom is afraid of the AGM and we don’t know why. Are they hiding something, perhaps?”
But Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said clubs need to pay affiliation fees to enable the league call for an AGM.
“They should bear in mind that there are cost-implications in holding an AGM. Up to now, no club has paid affiliation fees and we need resources to organise an AGM. On top of that, there are other clubs that have outstanding dues that need to be cleared,” said Banda.
He also said they could not call for an AGM when they were busy with the match-fixing issue. He dismissed suggestions to reduce affiliation fees, arguing: “How do we reduce the affiliation fees when things are going up? But we would like to assure the clubs that an AGM will be called at an appropriate time.”
