Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has failed to amend its statutes to facilitate the recruitment of a chief executive officer (CEO).
The top-flight league runners promised to scrutinise their constitution at their recent annual general meeting (AGM) to employ a CEO by the end of 2020 as part of their commercialisation.
It was expected that once the AGM nods to the constitution change, Sulom legal team would go ahead to make the changes before the statutes are taken back to the general assembly for adoption and ratification.
However, a year after moving to Chilomoni Stadium, Sulom is yet to employ a CEO and other staff members.
Sulom statutes stipulate that the general secretary should double as CEO yet the commercialisation drive that Footbll Association of Malawi (FAM) advocates for requires that the two positions have separate holders to facilitate the running of football as a business.
Sulom president Tiya Somba-Banda admitted that they planned to sort out the matter at their AGM, but they failed due to effects of Covid-19 and financial hiccups.
“We have not done the scrutiny and the amendment of the statutes as planned this year as we have been overtaken by Covid-19,” he said.
“But the plans are still in place. We will do that once football stabilises and our financial position improves.”
But Super League clubs said they are hopeful that the issue will be sorted out as soon as possible to help to improve football standards and bring sanity to the league.
“As a club, we are eagerly waiting for the recruitment of the CEO and we would like that to happen as soon as possible.
“However, we can excuse Sulom for taking long because our assumption is that the Covid-19 issue has contributed to the late action,” said Civil Service United general secretary Ronald Chiwaula.
Football analyst George Kaudza-Masina said the idea of employing a full-time CEO can only be implemented after the amendment of Sulom statutes; otherwise, it is only proper to shelve the plan.
“Much as we would have loved this to be implemented in the year ending, it also has to be appreciated that 2020 was abnormal; things were not good for many organisations, Sulom inclusive,” he said.
Added Kaudza-Masina: “Apart from the legal aspect, it is apparent for Sulom to ensure that they are financially liquid to sustain the CEO position, which does not come cheaply.”
Football Association of Malawi president Walter Nyamilandu also pledged in his December 2019 election manifesto ‘Raising the Bar’ to lease the Chilomoni Stadium to Sulom and employ a CEO to run the league runners’ secretariat.
