Road Traffic probes ‘Mighty 1’ Coaster
As if their poor run on the pitch is not enough, Mighty Wanderers FC have been thrown into a fresh ordeal.
The Nomads are being investigated by Road Traffic Safety Services if their new Toyota Coaster which has a number plate embossed ‘Mighty 1’ was registered.
The Nation findings show that officers from the Road Traffic were surprised to discover in their system that the Nomads had embossed the number plate when they had not paid the required K200 000 (about $526) fee required to obtain authorisation for the same.
It is reported that the authorities wanted to impound the 26-seater minibus when the Nomads travelled to Lilongwe for their Carlsberg Cup semi-final against Big Bullets, but the team somehow got away with it.
Road Traffic spokesperson Chisomo Chibwana confirmed on Wednesday that the Nomads are under investigation on the matter.
“As the road traffic regulatory body, we cannot impound a vehicle that is in a compound, but if it is on the road. We have checked our system and it is not registered. Even if there was to be a benefit of the doubt that it could be a vanity number, it still could have been traced in our system.
“So, it is an offence and we are investigating why they did that and who embossed the number for them,” said Chibwana from Lilongwe.
She further said in accordance with the Road Traffic Rules Section 11 subsection 2, it is also an offence to operate a vehicle without registration and apart from being impounded, the offence carries a K5 000 (about $13) fine.
However, Chibwana could not say the penalty the Nomads and the embosser face for stamping the special number plate without the registration process.
However, reacting to the development the Nomads’ general secretary and spokesperson Mike Butao said: “As far as I know, the bus is still under bond and it has not been registered in any other way, I cannot say anything more than that.”
The Nomads bought the bus early last month at K7 million (about $18 421) using the K25 million (about $66 000) donation by former president Joyce Banda. The club’s vice-general secretary Chris Kananji told The Nation then that the bus would cut expenses on transport.
