Go back to the basics
The much-anticipated Football Association of Malawi (Fam) elections are now over after Walter Nyamilandu was re-elected president for a fourth term at Nkopola Lodge in Mangochi, but the dust is refusing to settle.
It was an election full of drama, suspense and emotions. Nyamilandu’s rivals, Willy Yabwanya Phiri, Wilkins Mijiga and Super League of Malawi (Sulom) treasurer, Tiya Somba Banda decided to do the unthinkable by obtaining a court injunction stopping the general assembly from conducting the elections.
This was after Fam, in consultation with Fifa head of legal affairs Alexander Gros, overturned the decision by the Appeals Committee to postpone the election, arguing they did not form a quorum as stipulated in the Electoral Code.
The entire Appeals Committee headed by Justice Lovemore Chikopa has stepped down, claiming it was insulted by Fam executive committee at the general assembly.
But the question that puzzles most of us laymen in the field of law is, how could the Appeals Committee pass the verdict without forming a quorum? Secondly, why was the complaint by the trio not sent to Fam secretariat as demanded by the appeals procedures?
What is mind-boggling is that, how could they refer to the issue to the civil court when Article 67 of the Fam Constitution prohibits that. These concerns were also raised by both the High Court and the Fifa legal expert, hence the judgment to continue with the elections.
An extremely annoyed Fifa development point man in the region, Ashford Mamelodi, did not mince words and has asked Fam to take stern action against those that referred the issue to the civil court.
It is my sincere prayer that judicial organs of Fam will settle these disputes expeditiously. Time for politicking is over and the nation is fed up. This dust must settle for the good of the game.
In fact, Yabwanya and Mijiga had no pedigree to win this election even if they were postponed for 100 days. This was exposed in how they articulated their manifestos, how they made their strategies and how they were manipulated by the people who they thought were genius in this game.
And for the duo to imagine that they shall seek intervention of Court of Arbitration of Sports (Cas) is another waste of time and resources. That appeal can only be entertained by Fam. Go back to the laws and read.
Mijiga and Yabwanya wasted energy and time on trivialities instead of giving voters real stuff. No wonder the insiders at Nkopola Lodge could not be fooled by those smoke and mirrors.
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