Yabwanya questions Mijiga’s candidacy

Rejected aspirant Willy Yabwanya Phiri says Football Association of Malawi (FAM) elections committee erred by allowing marketer Wilkins Mijiga to contest because he lacks the required football administration experience.

This follows his disqualification on Sunday for currently not residing in the country as per FAM statutes.

One of the requirements to contest FAM executive committee positions is that aspirants must have not less than five years in football management.

Referring to the requirement, Yabwanya Phiri said the electoral committee has been inconsistent when screening the candidates.

“Mijiga has not been in soccer [administration] for longer than five years and yet they let him through. How do you explain this to the nation?” he wondered.

Asked for his reaction, Mijiga said he was not interested to comment.

“Making a comment on a decision made by professionals that are competent to make those decisions is outside the scope of my expertise,” he said.

However, Mijiga had previously said that he was eligible to contest because he served as board member of the Malawi National Council of Sports, which coordinates all sporting disciplines in the country and was also a trustee of Big Bullets FC.

“In addition to that, I have also been in some football committees. One of them was the task force formed to raise funds for the Flames trip to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nation finals,” he said after being nominated for the FAM polls.

Meanwhile, the committee’s secretary Suzgo Nyirenda has defended the committee’s verdicts while urging those with grievances to file them to the appeal’s committee.

“We thoroughly analysed all the profiles which the aspirants submitted, so some of these issues being raised are not true,” he said. “Like I have always said, let all those with concerns appeal.”

Yabwanya Phiri was disqualified alongside sitting FAM executive member Paul Mzungu and the football governing body’s former treasurer Hubert Mfune.

Mzungu did not submit his profile to prove his eligibility while Mfune failed to send copies of his Malawi School Certification of Education, its equivalent or a higher qualification. Both were seeking executive member positions in the December 12 elections.

Yabwanya Phiri and Mzungu have vowed to appeal against their disqualification at the FAM elections appeals committee. n