FAM electoral code faulted

Private practice lawyers David Kanyenda and John Gift-Mwakhwawa have accused Football Association of Malawi (FAM) of flouting Fifa rules by involving members of the Judiciary in the electoral committee.

The two lawyers said the involvement of officials of the judiciary, which is an arm of the government, chairing FAM electoral committee (Justice Dingiswayo Madise) and the appeals committee (Justice Lovemore Chikopa) could be deemed as government interference.

The world football governing body Fifa, does not accept government interference and FAM’s own electoral code condemns the same.

Kanyenda, who is former Be Forward Wanderers general secretary, believes the entire electoral process was unlawful right from the beginning where government officials were appointed in FAM’s electoral and appeals committee.

“Article 3.4(c) of FAM’s electoral code bars government officials of any kind from membership of the electoral bodies. The Judiciary is an arm of the government and FAM erred to appoint a judicial officer to handle the elections,” he said.

Justice Madise refused to comment on the matter, but in a Facebook posting few days ago, he claimed he was involved in the elections in his personal capacity and not as a High Court Judge.

“Judges participate in football matters in their personal capacity as football lovers and citizens of the Republic not as Judges of Court,” reads Justice Madise’s posting.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, at appointment, judges lose their ordinary title of Mr. or Mrs. or indeed Ms… They maintain their title of Justice for life unless they are impeached by Parliament.”

In spite of that, Kanyenda, a critic of Nyamilandu, insisted the judicial officers should not have accepted the appointments.

“The appointment of persons into the electoral body excluded by law renders the entire process unlawful. Fifa abhors government interference. The exclusion of government servants or agents is designed to eliminate any government interference,” he explained.

“These persons ought to resign from the electoral body and a fresh committee comprising competent people ought to be appointed and fresh elections must be conducted.”

On his part, Mwakhwawa, who showed interest in vying for the presidency post but was not nominated, said it was possible to challenge the outcome of the results on grounds that there was government interference in the electoral process.

“Rules are very clear. A government official is anybody who works in the Executive arm, judiciary and even Parliament. So the inclusion of the judges automatically renders the whole process unconstitutional,” he said.

FAM legal committee chairperson Jabbar Alide said he had commented enough on the elections and he was not to issue any further comment.

“Besides that, holding divergent views is in the DNA of lawyers. I have seen the contrary views my brother David (Kanyenda) holds. I wish he raised those views at an appropriate forum, (and) at an appropriate time. For now, to me, the issue is water under the bridge,” Alide wrote in an e-mail response. n