Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) has appointed a new board for its team—Civil Service United, also known as Civo.
The move comes at a time the club has taken a bold step towards professionalism and commercialisation.
Civo’s new chairperson is Principal Secretary in the Department of Human Resources, Management and Development Ian Chingwalu, with OPC Deputy Director of Administration Chrispin Mwale taking up the post of secretary to the board.
Mwale said a management committee will be responsible for all teams, including those of football, netball and athletics, under OPC.
“The management committee will divide roles for members of the board to take care of football, netball, our club house and athletics,” he said.
Mwale said OPC has also appointed former Civil Service United general secretary Edgar Chipalanjira as interim chief executive officer.
“We have assigned him the role of running daily operations of our football teams at all levels,” he said.
Chipalanjira said he was humbled with the appointment.
“It is an honour to be entrusted with such a huge responsibility to run the affairs of one of the biggest teams in Malawi. This is something I do not take for granted. I am, therefore, very grateful to the board for the kind consideration,’’ he said.
Former Malawi National Football Team midfielder Peterkins Kayira and former FCB Nyasa Big Bullets goalkeeper James Mandambwe have also been appointed as board members.
Also on the list are Mirriam Kwindani, Elias Chimulambe, Ezra Dzoole, Victor Lungu, Julius Chulu, Francis Chingoli, Diana Nkhulembe and Faggie Mwalweni.
Civil are among the teams that have abolished elected executive committee positions ahead of the 2024 football season.
Bullets were the first club to do away with the system in 2017 and started running affairs as a commercial entity.
The move had an immediate impact at the People’s Team as it restored order and helped it to win cups and league titles.
This proved appealing to other clubs such as Silver Strikers, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, Mzuzu City Hammers (formerly Ekwendeni Hammers), Bangwe All Stars and Dedza Dynamos.