BB trustees pen FAM over court order
Big Bullets trustees are contesting a stay order which the High Court in Blantyre granted the teams’ fans Peter Tembo and Alick Kazonda last week barring the trustees from ‘meddling’ in the executive committee’s affairs.
In a letter dated March 20 2015 addressed to FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda, the trustees’ secretary Jim Kalua and chairperson James Busiley sought advice “as we do not like to battle with our own peers in courts, which is against Fifa rules”.
The trustees claim they did not receive the court summons, let alone sign it.
Private practice lawyer Lusungu Gondwe represented the fans and insists the trustees were served the summons.
“The High Court went ahead with the ruling in the absence of the Board of Trustees’ representatives. Supporters who obtained an injunction are not registered members of Big Bullets FC,” Busiley and Kalua wrote to Nyirenda who, yesterday, confirmed receipt of the letter.
“Please take note that there are no disputes in Big Bullets that cannot be solved better by the ultimate authority, which is Big Bullets FC Trustees than the High Court. The Board of Trustees will be calling for an annual general meeting [AGM] soon to put our house in order.”
The trustees have dismissed claims of interference, insisting that the AGM is the constitutional requirement which the Kondie Msungama-led executive is ignoring by not holding one.
Issues of financial transparency are the bone of contention.
Nyirenda yesterday said they had referred, for advice, the trustees’ letter to the association’s legal committee, but one of the committee’s members [Jabbar Alide] was, as of yesterday, unaware of such communication.
“However, we would like, as we have done in the past, to advise people within the football family to respect structures that are in place before resorting to ordinary courts. This being an internal matter, we expected the supporters to have respected Bullets’ structures,” Nyirenda explained.
Alide said Fifa statutes against taking football matters to court are restricted to issues that directly affect football, adding that the trustees’ complaint should have passed through the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) to which Bullets are affiliated.
“For example, if FAM goes out and incurs a debt with a hotel or I go to a stadium and assault someone, I cannot say the matter cannot be taken to court,” Alide said, proving that the fans should not have gone to the court.
Tembo said he was mindful of the Fifa restriction, but needed a quick solution against the interference after the trustees refused to cooperate when called for a meeting.
Judge Rowland Mbvundula granted the stay order that makes invalid the trustees’ recent decisions, including suspending head of marketing Dan Mbebuwa and reinstating supporters’ chairperson Isaac Jomo Osman, lest the trustees be in contempt of court.
Bullets vice-supporters’ committee chairperson Stone Mwamadi accused the two fans of not consulting the committee and said he expected the trustees to challenge the order.
Stand-in Sulom publicist Tiya Somba-Banda yesterday promised to seek an-out-of court settlement of the matter once the trustees furnish the league with details about the case, which Sulom “has been following through the media”. n
