No fees at Wanderers elections
Mighty Wanderers will hold elections for the executive and supporters committees on March 2 and 9 respectively in Blantyre, but it has been agreed that aspirants for the various positions will not pay any fee to contest.
The decision was made at a meeting in Blantyre on Sunday to map the way forward following recent demands by the clubs’ 15 supporters subcommittee chairpersons in Blantyre that the team’s interim executive should resign.
General secretary David Kanyenda and supporters committee chairperson Yona Malunga asked the fans’ subcommittees to choose whether elections should require nomination fees, and they unanimously agreed to have free- of-charge polls.
“Our team needs people with wisdom and not money. Everybody, rich or poor, should be allowed to contest. People should not be elected because of money. That brings confusion to our team,” argued Paul Banda [not the musician], the team’s Bangwe zone chairperson.
They also agreed to have zonal elections, which will see each of their 15 zones in Blantyre nominating contestants for the executive committee in both the executive and supporters committee elections.
Nomads executive committee chairperson George Chamangwana believes the free-of-charge elections idea is a step backwards because the unsponsored team needs financial contributions from both the executive and the fans to survive.
He, however, would want to consult before declaring whether he would seek re-election.
“People claim that Wanderers is their team, yet they do not want to contribute to its survival. As executive, we give ideas on how we can rescue the team, but it seems some quarters do not want change because of greed,” said Chamangwana.
Nomads trustee James Chuma refused to comment on the matter as he said he was in a meeting.
The Nomads scenario is in sharp contrast to Big Bullets who also have elections early next month and supporters committee aspirants for top positions will pay K50 000 (about $125) while those vying for committee membership will pay K10 000 (about $25) each. For executive committee hopefuls, the fees are K75 000 (about $187) and K25 000 (about $62) in that order.
