No 5th term, says Nyamilandu

Although Confederation of African Football (CAF) says the newly-introduced three-term limit will not apply retrospectively, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu says he will not stand once his fourth term expires.

CAF introduced the three-term limit at its recent extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held in Cairo on Thursday last week which Nyamilandu also attended.

Commenting on the news that the three-term limit will not apply retrospectively, Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) chairperson Raphael Humba welcomed the move.

“This is a very good development and as affiliates, we welcome the move wholeheartedly,” he said.

But Nyamilandu, who is serving his fourth term, said the principle behind the new rule is to stop people from being in power for more than three terms; hence, his decision not to stand again.

“That is my understanding of the three-term limit. Firstly, why was the three-term limit introduced? People must look at the intended purpose of putting the three-term limit which is to stop people from being in position for over three terms. To me, if you have served three terms, standing again is out of question. I am surprised CAF statutes have been framed in such a way,” He said.

Nyamilandu said when time comes for FAM to introduce the three-term limit they would apply retrospectively as is the case with Fifa.

“We [FAM] comply with the Fifa statutes. Actually, as we are speaking, we have called on CAF to ensure the statutes are in line with that of Fifa. Some of us opposed to adopting the statutes wholesale. A committee has been put in place to continue working on the CAF statutes to improve on such flaws in the framing for further ratification in March,” he said.

Meanwhile, FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda said FAM’s legal subcommittee was working on the recommendations from Fifa and CAF.

“I was just talking to the legal adviser on the same issue. The committee should meet this month to start deliberations on all the earmarked constitutional changes,” he said. n