Security at a price?

So, Kamuzu Stadium has been reopened to football action even before it was actually closed? Ordinarily, this should be very good news, but only time will tell. The impression is that the move has become possible because of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) that Super League clubs signed in Blantyre on Thursday, in principle committing themselves to some measures aimed at curbing violence.

I really wish I celebrated this development because closing the stadium was a huge inconvenience to everyone, including the football authorities themselves, but even from the developments during the signing ceremony itself, there were worrying signs as to whether there was indeed any common understanding on the issues at stake by all concerned parties. That is probably why we hear of some teams holding the process back.

The whole drama at the Chiwembe Technical Centre begs the question on who exactly came up with the points that were included in the MoU. Were the teams that were raising objections and reservations not involved in coming up with the contents? Should the fact that they eventually put pen to paper be understood as an indication that they now fully subscribe to the letter and spirit of the document?

It is a known fact that most of the violence at football matches is perpetrated by fans and you get sense that it is the belief of the authorities that by having the likes of Yona Malunga at the signing ceremony, the country has got the commitment of football fans to the contents of the MoU. Now, that is being too optimistic, if not outright simplistic. The likes of Malunga cannot claim to have the means to control fellow fans.

From the little I have gleaned from the document, it seems there is some inordinate responsibility placed on the clubs to control their fans. That sounds great on paper, but I am not sure if there is a club in Malawi with the capacity to do so. In the first place, although I have heard of membership registration by the various clubs, I am not sure the records that may be there are a true reflection of the teams’ fan bases.

I would have thought that to effectively deal with violence, greater responsibility needs to be placed on the security forces. Even in countries where fans are registered in a more organised way, police are at the centre of the security arrangements for particular games to the extent that the timing of matches takes into consideration security issues. The numbers of police officers tally with the risks that are forecast.

I am not sure if this system of hiring police officers helps the cause of the game and the cause of national security because the numbers are usually determined by the authorities’ capacity to pay and not necessarily the magnitude of the security risks. I would like to think that the police service is essentially there to provide security and they should be there to do their job without necessarily being hired.

Come to think of it. Kamuzu Stadium is only 200 metres or so away from the Southern Region Police Headquarters. You want to tell me that if the police officers were not hired, they would just be watching as hooligans run riot at the stadium? Security should be a right for each and every citizen and police officers need to be present in the right numbers wherever it is clear their services would be needed.

Kamuzu Stadium, in any case, is a public property and I do not see why anyone should pay for its security.