Maba, NPBC wrangle worsens

The fallout between the Malawi Boxing Association (Maba) and the National Professional Boxing Committee (NPBC) worsened on Wednesday with the latter calling on the national boxing body’s executive committee to step down.

NPBC chairperson Lonzoe ‘Defector’ Zimba claimed that if Maba executive committee cannot resign, then Sports Council should intervene and dissolve it.

Said Zimba: “The grounds for the call are several, but the main one is failure to respect their constitution by, among other things, not calling for quarterly meetings with the affiliates since 2009.

“They have also failed to account for the funds they receive from government annually. So, we are saying if they insist that we are affiliated to them, then they should bow out and allow for fresh elections.”

He also blamed Maba for refusing to grant female boxer Agnes Mtimaukanena a professional licence last year.

“Now that she is doing well, having obtained the licence elsewhere, they want to be associated with her because she has won an international belt and we are saying it is a shame,” Zimba said.

Maba’s general secretary Arthur Nanthulu on Wednesday said NPBC do now know what they are talking about.

“Just last week, they declared that they wanted to operate as a parallel body and today they are calling for our resignation. We fail to understand what they are really up to. Our suspicion is that they just want to paint a bad picture of Maba through negative publicity.

“Our constitution is clear as regards tenure and we are not going anywhere until the end of our term in 2014,” said Nanthulu who suspects that some NPBC are deliberately causing confusion because they are after positions in Maba.

“If they want to advance for a vote of no confidence, then there are procedures that need to be followed; otherwise, we are now tired of dealing with the same issue,” added Nanthulu.