KB feel unsafe at Kamuzu Stadium

Kamuzu Barracks (KB) have requested FAM to seriously consider shifting the venue of Sunday’s Carlsberg Cup quarter-final clash against Blantyre United to a neutral venue on security grounds.

KB chairperson Lieutenant Colonel Saiford Kalisha also cited the resolution made during a stakeholders’ meeting that local games should be put on hold whenever there are national team engagements.

And while Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions officer Gomezgani Zakazaka insists that the match will still take place at Kamuzu Stadium, Kalisha said the association’s position could be recipe for disaster.

“We feel these are issues that need to be seriously addressed by the association and, as a follow-up to an e-mail that we sent them, we have also filed an official complaint,” said Kalisha.

The KB chairperson said from the findings of the FAM competitions organising committee in the case involving Red Lions and Evirom, it was clear that ganyu supporters were the perpetrators of the violent acts.

“Now we are a security institution and the primary job of those [military team] players is not football, but to protect the property and lives of Malawians and we do not want the MDF to be implicated in such ugly acts as it tarnishes the image of MDF and indeed the Army commander.

“They [FAM] should look at the bigger picture because the consequences could be far-reaching. We have a situation whereby some external forces are planning to cause havoc and to avoid that, we are saying let us play at a neutral venue.

“Ndiye a FAM asaganize mwachibwanabwana [FAM shouldn’t think childishly]. We know there is that element of serving the interests of a civilian team, but that should not be the approach,” said Kalisha.

He said as such, KB want FAM to reschedule the game to an area where there are no soldiers.

“It can be anywhere apart from areas such as Blantyre, Zomba and Lilongwe because we do not want to be implicated in case something happens. Or else if they still want us to play at Kamuzu Stadium then there should be no spectators,” he said.

On the game being fixed when the national team is engaged, Kalisha said: “The resolution to shelve games was made at a stakeholders’ meeting and, in our understanding, it was not changed.”

Zakazaka confirmed KB’s concerns, but said security is being seriously looked into.

And responding to the issue of shelving games due to national team engagements, Zakazaka said: “It is possible that KB are referring to the absence of their two key players [Harvey Nkacha and Dave Banda] who are with the national team.

“However, the rules are clear that only a team that contributes four players or more can be exempted from a fixture. KB have contributed only two players and that means they do not qualify for exemption. Teams can also register 30 players.”

The initial Carlsberg Cup quarter-final match between Evirom and Red Lions at the stadium was marred by ugly scenes that led to a full-scale skirmish.

The match was abandoned in the 70th minute and was replayed without spectators at the same venue.

During the match between KB and Big Bullets in Dedza, there were also confrontations between fans of the two teams.