Super League of Malawi (Sulom) and National Referees Association (NRA) have replaced some match officials for Saturday’s Blantyre derby between FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers after Bullets wrote a protest letter.
The two bodies had assigned Mayamiko Kanjere to officiate the match as referee, with Pondamali Tembo as first assistant and Yohane Chiutika as second assistant.
Cedrick Mwachumu has been assigned as fourth official while Moffat Champiti will be the match assessor.
But Kanjere has been replaced with Easter Zimba while Chiutika’s place has been taken up by Clemence Kanduku, with Tembo staying put.
Mwachumu has also lost his role of fourth official to David Chinoko but Champiti has not been moved.
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Bullets Chief Administrative Officer Albert Chigoga described the change as a demonstration of listening leadership.
In a letter dated May 1 2024 and signed by Chigoga, Bullets asked that Kanjere and Chiutika be replaced immediately on the basis that they messed up their match against Dedza Dynamos on April 6.
“As a club, we would like to bring to your attention that during the league’s opening match on April 6 2024 in Dedza, where FCB Nyasa Big Bullets played against the hosts Dedza Dynamos FC, Messrs Mayamiko Kanjere and Yohane Chiutika, who were referee and first assistant, respectively, performed poorly to the dismay of our team officials and supporters. The decisions of the two match officials were generally inconsistent and mostly biased against Bullets.
“In view of the foregoing, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets does not believe that it is a rational decision to assign the same officials to manage a high-profile match between Bullets and Wanderers. We would therefore like to request the immediate replacement of the two match officials for the sake of sanity of [the] Blantyre derby,”the letter reads.
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The letter was addressed to the Sulom general secretary (GS) and copied to his National Referees Association (NRA) counterpart.
However, Wanderers Chief Executive Officer Panganeni Ndovi said it is unfortunate that Sulom has bowed down to pressure from one team.
“This is against rules of the game, where one team is allowed to influence the selection of the officiating panel, thereby breeding room for match fixing,” Ndovi said.
Sulom GS Williams Banda said they had forwarded the matter to the relevant body.
NRA GS Chris Kalichero said allocation of match referees is done by their national allocation committee.
“So, it was up to the committee to attend to the issue as soon as possible and in a serious manner,” Kalichero said.
