Mittawa nails it

 Two weeks after Super League of Malawi (Sulom) affiliates blocked his ascendency to the presidency, Colonel Gilbert Mittawa has emerged as the sole nominee for the post in the March 30 elections in Lilongwe.

Nominations for the posts of president and executive member closed on March 15 and audit firm Crowe Horwath Malawi, which handled the process, confirmed in an interview yesterday that Mittawa, who is acting as Sulom president, is the only nominee for the top seat while the executive member slot

has three contestants.

The firm’s audit manager Chifundo Makande said: “We only have one name for the position of president and that is Colonel Mittawa who has been nominated by 15 of the 16 clubs.

“As for the executive member position, we have three contestants and these are Charles Manyungwa, William Nhlane and Isaac Mdindo.”

He also said that only one team, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, did not take part in the nomination process.

Reacting to his nomination, Mittawa, who is also Malawi Defence Force head of legal services, said he was humbled by the “overwhelming trust and confidence displayed by the clubs”.

He said: “First, I am grateful to all the teams for their enormous support and trust in giving me the sword of leadership to continue serving the league.

“We will continue to revive, reform and rebrand the league so that we can transform the game of football in Malawi.

“I seek the support of everyone as leading the league is not one man’s job.”

Football analyst Charles Nyirenda said Mittawa has the trust and confidence of the clubs because of continuity.

He said: “I would imagine that what has dissuaded anyone from contesting for Sulom president is that the Sulom executive committee is only in its first year and the acting president has not been tested in the high office in the past two months following the departure of the immediate-past president [Fleetwood Haiya].

“This means that automatically, time has come for him to be given a chance to show what he can do.”

On why they did not take part in the nominations as an affiliate of Sulom, Wanderers board secretary Chancy Gondwe said: “It was a strategic decision not to nominate any candidates for the Sulom elections.

“Our team believes in evaluating all candidates objectively and supporting the most qualified individual for the position.

“We have full confidence in our ability to make an informed decision during the voting process and support our preferred candidate based on merit.”

The position of Sulom president fell vacant following Haiya’s election as president of the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) in December while that of executive member became vacant after Daud Mtanthiko was elected in a similar position at FAM.

During Sulom’s annual general meeting held in Lilongwe on March 2, the top-flight league runners proposed the confirmation of Mittawa as president, a move that was rejected by some of the teams which argued that doing so would be flouting the constitution which stipulates that vacant positions should be filled through an electoral process.

In an interview yesterday, Silver Strikers chief executive officer Patrick Chimimba said what happened at the AGM was not against Mittawa as an individual,“but rather the process that was proposed”.

He said: “The legitimate way is the one that was followed immediately after the AGM where due notice was provided to affiliates.

“The Sulom leadership has shown maturity by following the due process in the shortest possible time despite sailing in financial troubles