Parliament to summon FAM, RVG January
The Parliamentary Committee on Social and Community Welfare will summon the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) leadership and national coach RVG for a hearing in relation to a petition made by concerned football supporters.
Dowa North Member of Parliament (MP) Enos Chitatanga, who received the petition on behalf of the committee, said this after presenting the petition to Parliament yesterday morning.
He told Parliament that there were three main issues in the petition. The first was poor performance of the national team in that out of the 20 games, the team has won twice and lost eight times and drawn 10 times.
The concerned citizens are also demanding transparency in the way the national coach was recruited.
Most MPs were convinced with the contents of the petition, especially of the poor performance of the national team.
In his report, Chitatanga also told Parliament that the concerned football fans have also accused FAM of incompetence and alleged mismanagement of funds.
They are also demanding the findings of an inquiry into K5 million that went missing during a football game involving Nyasa Big Bullets and Be forward Wanderers.
“They have since asked that the committee needs to be meeting FAM leadership on quarterly basis to demand progress of the national team. The other request is government National Audit Office should be auditing FAM accounts,” said Chitatanga in an interview.
He said the next course of action will be to hold a hearing with the accused parties and find a solution.
“We have heard the concerns of the concerned football supporters. What is remaining is to meet FAM leadership and the national coach,” he said.
Chairperson of Social and Community Welfare Committee, Richard Chimwendo Banda, has since announced that his committee will summon FAM and the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development in January for a hearing.
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu has welcomed the call by Parliament, saying it offers them an opportunity to clarify things.
“We are ready to face Parliament on the concerns raised. This affords us a great opportunity to put things straight so that there is clarity. We have nothing to hide as we have always been transparent,” he said.
