Incumbent unveils Plans for Sulom
Incumbent Super League of Malawi (Sulom) president Tiya Somba-Banda has unveiled his second term bid manifesto which he says builds on the foundation laid down in the last term.
Unlike in the first term when he rose from treasurer to president unopposed, this time he faces Nyasa Big Bullets vice-president Fleetwood Haiya in Saturday’s elections at Sunbird Nkopola in Mangochi.
In the blueprint released Tuesday titled ‘Progressive league centred on clubs aspirations’, Somba-Banda promises to turn the secretariat into a corporate office, a repeat of his 2019 promise.
However, this time he says he will call for an extraordinary general meeting within the first 90 days in office to dissolve general secretary and treasurer positions and create chief executive officer and finance manager posts.
The manifesto also promises to increase revenue for clubs from K100 million to K1 billion by December 2023.
Somba-Banda said this will be done through the K150 million sponsorship from TNM plc, K100 million grant from Football Association of Malawi (FAM), K600 million gate revenue and K150 million from television rights.
Reads the manifesto in part: “All clubs to get K10 million grant a season as follows: K5 million from FAM grant immediately after meeting club licence requirements, K4 million from TNM grant, K1 million from a pool fund.”
In his manifesto, Somba-Banda also repeats the 2019 promise to introduce electronic ticketing through the use of Mpamba debit card to do away with cash gate revenue collection which is “is unsustainable with a lot of leakages and misappropriation of funds”.
“All teams will have a portal where they can access and view their gate revenues complete with historical data. Funds will be disbursed direct to teams’ accounts or Mpamba wallet within 24 hours of collection,” he said.
Somba-Banda has also promised to introduce mandatory inclusion of two Under-23 players in each match and formation of a league for reserve sides of the Super League teams to give up-and-coming players a platform for exposure.
He also promises to partner with vocational and tertiary education institutions for scholarships for current and former players.
The Sulom president said he will improve media and broadcasting rights revenue by having Super League games livestreamed on TNM Mobile App.
“This will increase revenues for clubs as well as improve brand visibility and coverage,” he said.
Somba-Banda said having negotiated an increase in TNM sponsorship to K450 million for three years, securing an annual K100 million grant from FAM and K14 .4 million from Farmers Organisation for man-of-the-match awards, he will now leverage on the sponsorships and partnerships as well as create new ones.
It further reads: “The total direct monetary sponsorship is now over K265 million per season. The strategy is to nurture and consolidate the sponsorships that are already there and monetise the partnerships to build a long-term symbiotic relationship.”
“We will partner with a bottled water company as an official match day water sponsor for all the 240 games and an outdoor advertising firm to maximise parameter boards advertising and kit sponsorships.”
One of the challenges the league faces is wrangles with its affiliates and Somba-Banda said he wants to end this through the ‘Chairperson’s Forum’.
He said: “Sometimes there are unnecessary confrontations between the clubs and the League. The aim is to maintain a mature and professional relationship with all stakeholders, especially with clubs.”
Put to him that most of the promises are an extension of his 2019 manifesto, Somba Banda said the first term was used to lay the foundation and that his second term he will build on that.
He said: “In the new manifesto, we have laid out a detailed plan on how we will implement everything.”
Soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda observed that the manifesto is impressive, but said the incumbent’s challenge is on implementation, having already struggled to fulfil the promises in the last four years.
