Sulom executive endorses Somba-Banda for FAM polls
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) executive committee meeting held in Lilongwe last Friday endorsed its treasurer Tiya Somba-Banda to contest for the position of Football Association of Malawi (FAM) first vice-president.
Somba-Banda, who officially declared to vie for the position last month, is set to face FAM executive member James Mwenda while incumbent first vice-president Moses Mkandawire is yet to decide whether he will seek re-election.
An inside source who was part of the meeting held at Lilongwe Hotel, confided to The Nation that the meeting felt Somba-Banda will advance the interests of the flagship football league and the game in general considering his contribution during the five years that he has administered the game.
“Of course, the issue of loyalty also came into play at some point as Mwenda also has support within Sulom, but it was felt that we should support our own aspirant who, together with the Sulom president, will advance the interests of the league and ensure that there is sanity in the administration of the game at national level,” said the source.
However, while confirming that they indeed had an executive meeting last Friday, Sulom president Innocent Bottoman was elusive on the issue.
“What I can say is that it was an internal matter which covered a number of areas such as the extraordinary general meeting [EGM] which we are planning to have later this month to adopt the amended constitution as agreed at our annual general meeting (AGM),” said Bottoman.
However, Somba-Banda confirmed the development in an interview on Wednesday, saying: “Basically, when we sat down, it was felt that I could help contribute on policy matters at FAM looking at how I have performed during the past five years by, among others, helping in restoring order in the handling of the league’s accounts, the role I played in acquiring [Nsejjere] sponsorship for the Southern Region Football Association [SRFA] and Under-15 Youth Football leagues.”
Mwenda refused to comment on the development.
Following the amendment of the FAM constitution, Sulom is now the most influential affiliate as it will be providing the highest number of delegates—eight out of 36— to the association’s general assembly. The elections are slated for December 12 in Salima.
