BB lose out, Kaira goes for free

Big Bullets are fuming after FAM cleared Chimango Kaira to Mozambican side Costa do Sol as a free agent following an issuance of an expired contract for the midfielder.

Newly elected Bullets general secretary Harold Fote on Sunday said he was not aware of Football Association of Malawi (FAM) transaction effected by local transfer matching system manager Casper Jangale.

“This is very unfortunate. I thought FAM has interest to protect Malawian clubs. We spent quite a fortune to add value to Chimango. There was an existing contract that expired on February 28 submitted by Escom [now Kabula United].We wanted to pursue this jointly. Escom still owned the player as we owed [them] some money,” said Fote.

Apparently, Bullets had not finished paying Kaira’s transfer fee from Kabula; hence, club boss Fanuel Nkhono still claimed ownership of the Flames workhorse alongside James Chilapondwa and Heston Munthali at a combined price of K6 million (about $15 000).

Nkhono could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Fifa Article 5 on player transfer sourced on www.fifa.com reads: “The club that has accepted a player on a loan basis is not entitled to transfer him to a third club without the written authorisation of the club that released the player on loan and the player concerned.”

Jangale yesterday argued that he only cleared Chimango after February 28, when his contract expired.

“In fact, in the last six months of a contract, a player is technically deemed as free to move on. To us, the most important thing is whether a contract is still valid. We do not negotiate for transfer fees on behalf of clubs. The initiative to get money for the player was for the local clubs, not us. The player also denied signing a contract and we also look at interest of players,” said Jangale.

He further noted that Kaira could only have been deemed still loaned to Bullets if Bullets had negotiated for a loan extension. Kaira spent two seasons at Bullets.

“A club intending to conclude a contract with a professional must inform the player’s current club in writing before entering into negotiations with him. A professional shall only be free to conclude a contract with another club if his contract with his present club has expired or is due to expire within six months,” reads article 5 on Fifa player status regulations.

The Fifa article further adds that “a professional may be loaned to another club on the basis of a written agreement between him and the clubs concerned…the minimum loan period shall be the time between two registration periods.”

Mighty Wanderers also lost out on deals for Alfred Manyozo Jnr and Joseph Kamwendo who signed for Santos of Botswana and Mozambique’s Liga Muculmana respectively. Muculmana benefitted in reselling Kamwendo to TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo.