Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has officially recommended the scrapping off of some elected top positions, including general secretary (GS), treasurer and vice-GS.
Under the Sulom constitutional review considerations, the positions should be scrapped off and transfer the responsibilities to the secretariat, where the chief executive officer, head of finance and head of administration are supposed to run the affairs “to align with modern governance standards”.
The top-flight league governing body’s legal team has also recommended the change of name from Sulom to either Premiership or Premier League to align with the national football structure introduced by the Football Association of Malawi (FAM).
Briefing the body’s annual general meeting in Salima on Saturday, a member of the Sulom legal team Chrispin Sibande said: “In South Africa, the league’s name is South African Premiership, now branded as Betway Premiership, and the institution running it is Premier Soccer League. We propose to clubs that the league should have a different name such as Malawi Premiership.”
The legal team has also recommended amendment of Article 26 to provide for automatic transition from vice-president to president in the event of a vacancy.
“The rationale is to minimise disruptions due to frequent elections, thereby saving costs, improving efficiency and continuity,” said Sibande, who is also board member of Lilongwe-based Silver Strikers FC.
The other issue is that it should not be specified in the consititution on where the head office should be, but Sulom executive should decide from time to time.
“On disciplinary hearings, we propose that we should no longer have physical hearings but pass judgements by looking at written submissions alone,” said Sibande.
According to the timeline, the legal team has up to March 21 to fradt revised texts of the constitution before submitting them to the clubs for their perusal.
On the other hand, the clubs have also been given a 10-day period of up to March 31 to provide their feedback.
The review process is expected to be finalised between March 31 to April 10 with an extraordinary general meeting set for April 18 for the adoption of the amended constitution.
However, those serving in the positions recommended for abolition will serve their term which expires next year.
Silver board chairperson Geroge Kaudza Masina said: “All the proposed amendments are in line with the modern football set up and in line with the current state of affairs, it is the way to go.”
