Interpol sets up hotline to curb match-fixing
Time is running out for domestic match-fixers as Fifa and Interpol have, through Cosafa, set up a local hotline to arrest the football vice that has of late been rearing its ugly head in Malawi.
The three bodies have entrusted the line in Lilongwe police officer superintendent Patrick Kapanga who is also the National Referees Committee (NRC) chairperson, after training him sometime last year and last month in Pretoria, South Africa.
“Being a Fifa referees future instructor, a policeman and retired referee, they felt I was the right person for this position. I am on a countrywide tour sensitising players, officials and referees to the dangers of match-fixing, resisting match-fixing and reporting match-fixing through the hotline. Their identities will be protected,” Kapanga explained on Monday.
His first assignment was in Zomba last Thursday, when he hosted Red Lions, Cobbe Barracks and referees based in the old capital city. He said he is meeting his own expenses since it is still a pilot project.
Kapanga takes his anti-match-fixing campaign to Lilongwe on November 17 followed by Blantyre and Mzuzu.
The Council of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) website reports that Kapanga, alongside representatives of 14 southern Africa countries, attended a trainer of trainers three-day programme which Interpol instructors Julie Norris and Dinis Adriao from their Integrity in Sport Unit, and Nicholas Raudenski from Fifa’s security division conducted.
The workshop trained the 14 individuals so that they may in turn take that knowledge to their territories and train their local referees and players on the subject of match-fixing, especially how to recognise approaches for what they are, how to resist such approaches and, most importantly, how to report them, reads www.cosafa.com.
“Southern Africa has been hard hit by match-fixing scandals over the past few years and Cosafa is honoured and grateful to have been requested by Interpol and Fifa to work alongside their initiative in an effort to combat this blight on our sport,” Cosafa president Suketu Patel told the website.
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) general secretary Williams Banda and FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda confirmed Kapanga’s initiative and pledged their support.
Kapanga early last year attended the training together with Director of Public Prosecutions Bruno Kalemba and Sulom treasurer Tiya Somba Banda, among other Malawians.
Reports of match-fixing are on the increase locally, but Kapanga blamed the local fraternity for merely talking without following up with written complaints and evidence over the same.
Moyale Barracks accused some referees of the vice last month, but Moyale never brought written evidence, according to Kapanga. The Anti-Corruption Bureau has also prosecuted some local officials over match-fixing.
