Nomads cannot hire Manda—FAM
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has said any of its technical employees cannot work for another team or institution as per contract requirement unless they resign.
FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda was reacting to Mighty Wanderers’ move to hire the governing body’s technical development officer Charles Manda as caretaker coach following the resignation of Stuart Mbolembole as head coach at the weekend.
The Nomads have since fired the entire technical panel which also had Albert Mpinganjira as assistant coach, Chiyembekezo Zidana as team manager and Vales Kamzere as vice-team manager.
In the long term, the struggling Lali Lubani Road outfit is eyeing Under-20 national team assistant coach Gerald Phiri Snr for the post of head coach while the team’s legend Kannock ‘Bruno’ Munde and Thom Milanzi have been appointed team manager and vice-team manager respectively.
It is also reported that Zidana is being ear-marked for the position of vice-treasurer, the position that he wanted to contest for during the elections before he withdrew at the 11th hour.
Said Nyirenda: “Manda is working full-time for the association and as per contract, he is not supposed to be engaged by any other institution or club.
“Secondly, we have not received any official communication on the issue, as such, I need to sit down with him to get to the bottom of the issue.”
Manda could not be reached for comment, but the Nomads vice-general secretary Chris Kananji claimed that they approached Manda and he accepted the offer.
“The thing is that we want to engage him on part-time basis until the issue of Gerald [Phiri] is finalised. Manda informed us that there would be no problem,” said Kananji.
He, however, said that they did not inform FAM about their decision prior to making the announcement.
“As I said, our assumption was that there would be no problem based on the assurance that Manda gave us, but in view of the latest development, then we will have to consult,” said Kananji.
Phiri could not be reached for comment as he is with the Under-20 national team in Botswana.
Mbolembole stepped down as Nomads coach after the first game of the season against Silver Strikers which the Nomads lost 0-2.
He said he threw in the towel to save his reputation amid calls from the some fans for his head.
