Mwase gets three extra months
Flames coach Meck Mwase will have three more months with the national football team as his prospective contract with government is effective October 1 2019, it has emerged.
The development is in contrast to the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) arrangement that his appointment was effective July 1 2019.
This means that the national football team gaffer’s prospective contract will expire on September 30 and not June 30 as earlier planned by the country’s football governing body.
Confirming the development in an interview on Sunday, Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture spokesperson Simon Mbvundula said: “The agreement with the Department of Human Resource Management and Development is that the period of the contract is from October 1 [2019] to September 30 [2020].
“As for the period that he would have served [between July 1 2019 to September 30 2019], that will be taken care of by FAM, but government will settle his arrears from October 1 [2019] to the time his contract is finalised.”
On why the coach’s contract could not be back-dated to the period proposed by FAM, he said: “When such a request is made, the Department of Human Resource Management and Development provides a timeframe when the prospective employee can be hired; hence, that was the period that was given to us.”
Reacting to the development, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said: “We can effect this variation to the contract agreement as long as it is recommended by government who are the employers. We will oblige accordingly to any instructions.”
Over seven months after his appointment, Mwase is yet to sign his contract
FAM has since set 2021 Africa Cup of Nations’ (Afcon) qualification and reaching the Cosafa Cup final as the main targets for Flames coach.
Nyamilandu said Mwase’s contract duration is tied to the 2021 Afcon campaign “because that is when the matches will be played; hence, the main target is centred on qualifying for the tournament”.
He said: “During this period, we are [also] obviously looking at doing extremely well in the Cosafa Cup by, at least, reaching the final of the tournament this time around.
“Noting that the Cosafa tournament takes place in July, in the likely event of meeting these key performance indicators, the Flames will stand a good chance of performing well in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers in which we are in the group of death after being pitted with Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Mozambique.”
On whether the targets would be incorporated in the coach’s contract, Mbvundula said that would be the responsibility of FAM.
He said:“The coach was identified and recommended to us by FAM because he will be reporting to them. Government was only asked to provide financial resources. “So, FAM would be in a better position to comment on that. Nevertheless, our expectation is that our team should do well.”
