On a chilly Wednesday morning last week, I got a surprise visitor at work—a chiwaya chips seller commonly known as Anjazi who operates at Ginnery Corner near Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH).
He was in his usual jovial mood and as I greeted him, he screamed: “Agale muli ndi mtima wachinyawu, osandiwuza kuti Bullets yapeza sponsor, chonsecho mukudziwa kuti ali ndi ngongole yanga yakalelekale? I am ‘hungry’ wifi you.” [I am sure he meant to say ‘I am angry with you.’ Lol!]
Then in a split second, in his eyes warmth and humour sparkled, there was a sudden glint of intensity and he asked how he could get hold of Big Bullets FC chairperson Samuel Chilunga so that he could claim K2 500 ($5) which he claimed the team owes him for the chips the players had as pre-match meal early this year. “Mungondipatsa ma ‘contract’ awo ngati muli nawo [ help me with his contacts if you have them.]
Well, this was poor Njazi asking for a meagre K2 500 and I wondered how many more creditors—owed in excess of millions of kwacha— are waiting to pounce on the People’s Team once they get their first tranche of the K500 million ($892,857) from the partnership agreement with Nyasa Manufacturing Company.
But while Bullets have an obligation to settle outstanding debts, I am sure it is the expectation of their prospective sponsor and indeed every true fan that the beneficiaries of the deal will be the players—for a change, they would love to see players’ wives going to supermarkets to buy beef, mutton, chambo fish and stuff like that other than the usual bonya, soya pisesi and anjole.
Hopefully, the image of co-coach Lloyd Nkhwazi walking back home while carrying hole-infested plastic bag containing training kit, will be a thing of the past and that he will now have a purpose-made branded bag. Above all, let’s take a bow to BB management for landing such a lucrative deal. Glory be to God. Uloliwe…uloliwe wayidudula hah!, neng’esiza [The train is pushing].n
