Details have emerged that Football Association of Malawi (Fam) spent K100 million on Malawi Under-23 National Football Team’s trip to Antalya, Turkey.
Prior to the trip, Fam told local media that the association had no resources for the trip and asked the government for assistance.
In an interview yesterday, Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda confirmed the figure.
“We spent around K100 million for the trip. We used part of the funds we got from the Kuipatsa Moto Flames fundraising drive, the Fifa travel subsidy and internal resources,” Gunda said.
According to Gunda, they used only K30 million from the Flames Kuipatsa Moto fundraising initiative for the Turkey trip.
Gunda said the money covered air tickets, accommodation, allowances for the players and officials.
In addition, Gunda said the association paid 10,000 Euros (about K10 million) to the agent who organised the match.
The K10 million covered all match organisation, including hiring of venue, security, match officiation and local transport.
According to documents which Malawi News has seen, the matches were organised by Fifa licensed agent Moez Brahmi.
A delegation of 35 people travelled to Turkey, including leader of delegation Rashid Ntelera and Fam president Walter Nyamilandu.
While in Turkey, the team was accommodated at Tui Magic Life Masmavi Belek Hotel in Antalya City.
Details indicate that Fam paid an estimated 68,000 Euros (about K68 million) for accommodation and food for nine days for 35 people.
Sports analyst Peterkins Kayira said this was misplacement of resources.
“Disaster and unprofessional. Fundraising initiative was for the team to go to Afcon finals not Turkey which had no substance if we think of finances towards the Afcon finals,’’ Kayira said.
“The Vice President Saulos Chilima played golf for the national team to go to Cameroon. The President Lazarus Chakwera hosted the team for dinner to fundraise for the Flames for Afcon trip nor Turkey.’’
The Kuipatsa Moto Flames fundraising golf tournament held at Lilongwe Golf Club raised K73.4million.
The VVIP Fundraising dinner at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe which President Lazarus Chakwera hosted raised K54million.
During the Turkey trip, the Junior Flames played two matches in which they beat Kuwait 2-0 before losing 3-0 to Togo in the second match.
Five players namely Blessings Mpokera, Alick Lungu, Fanizo Mwansambo, Chawanangwa Kaonga and Mphatso Kamanga are still in Turkey for trials.
