FAM extends GS, TD’s contracts
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) executive committee has extended contracts of general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda and technical director John Kaputa by three years each starting July this year.
The duo got FAM executive committee’s seal of approval during a quarterly meeting held in Blantyre on Saturday.
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said the executive committee unanimously agreed to extend their contracts after being impressed with their performance.
“It was observed that under the current GS, the secretariat is now stable and there is sanity in terms of corporate governance—there has been transparency and accountability at the secretariat.
“Everybody felt the young man has done a fantastic job in improving the image of the association,” said Nyamilandu.
The FAM president said as for Kaputa, the executive noted that grassroots structures had improved, citing the organisation of the Mayor’s Trophy and Football 4 Health in schools.
“He has also been at the hub of introducing the Under-14 national team which is critical in ensuring smooth progress at national level.
“The TD has also organised elite coaching courses and everybody unanimously agreed to have his contract renewed,” he said.
However, some FAM affiliates such as National Women’s Football Committee (NWFC) and Super League of Malawi (Sulom) as well as the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) said while they felt Nyirenda deserved contract extension, he should improve on his communication skills.
Said NWFC chairperson Severia Chalira: “We have had a good working relationship with the GS and one of the areas that he did well was his ability to attend to our proposals in time, especially things like budget.
“However, he needs to improve on his communication skills because that is where we saw a gap. Another area was that his focus was mainly on men’s football. He needs to understand that he is the GS of football and as such he should also help us in facilitating participation in international tournaments as he does with men’s football. Otherwise, if the executive felt he deserved another go, so be it.”
Commenting on Kaputa, Chalira said: “Generally, I think the TD did a good job. He helped us in most of the programmes like organising coaching courses and always sought our views on how best we could take women’s football forward. However, he still needs to do more in technical courses for women football.”
Sulom treasurer Tiya Somba-Banda applauded Nyirenda for improving the relationship between FAM and Sulom.
“There have been notable improvements in terms of administering the game since he took over, however, we are all human with our own flaws and I would say the area that the GS needs to work on is communication,” said Somba-Banda.
Sports Council executive secretary George Jana also said while the FAM GS deserves another go, he needs to improve on communication because sometimes he delays to act on critical issues.”
