Tigers accuse Sulom of double standards
Azam Tigers FC have accused the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) of practising double standards in dealing with player transfers on the local market.
In an exclusive interview with The Nation on Thursday, Azam Tigers chairperson Sydney Chikoti bemoaned the manner in which Sulom is handling the movement of Tigers players, citing transfers of Mike Kaziputa, Kondwani Kumwenda and Kondwani Lufeyo to Mighty Wanderers as examples.
“Despite several correspondences, Sulom has decided not to act on issues surrounding our players who moved to Wanderers FC. All we get are unacceptable excuses from them rather than action on this straight forward matter,” said Chikoti.
He pleaded with Sulom to apply player transfer rules equally across the board by revoking registrations of their players and stopping Wanderers FC from featuring them.
“We plead with Sulom to treat teams equally regardless of status. For two seasons now, the Wanderers camp has been robbing us of talented players and managed to walk scot-free in the full glare of Sulom. We simply want them to stop the Nomads from featuring our players just as they have done in the case involving Silver Strikers and Kamuzu Barracks over Harvey Mkacha and Mustafa Salimu,” he said.
Chikoti, who has threatened to pull out Tigers from the league, also made reference to a K5.3 million cheque from Wanderers FC, meant to serve as payment of players, which was referred to drawer, as sheer mockery to Tigers and exposure of Sulom’s biased administration.
“Sulom knows about the cheque from Wanderers that was not honoured by the bank, but there has been no action from them” he said.
We could not get an immediate comment from Sulom while Wanderers FC general secretary David Kanyenda said it was improper for Tigers to engage his club through the press.
“Let Mr Chikoti approach us if he has issues, he is our brother and former chairperson, we regard him in high esteem. We cannot engage in battles with him in the press,” said Kanyenda.
At the start of the season Wanderers FC got Kaziputa from Tigers on loan for K750 000 (about $1 875), Kondwani Kumwenda at K1.5 million (about $3 750) and Kondwani Lufeyo at K2.8 million (about $7 000).
The two clubs agreed that the transfer fees for the players would be settled before the second round of the league, but the Lali Lubani outfit is yet to honour the payments three weeks into the second round.
