Sulom fires vice-GS
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) has fired its vice-general secretary (GS) Zachariah Nyirenda for allegedly misappropriating K2.8 million gate revenue from a match between Silver Strikers and Nyasa Big Bullets on May 8.
Sulom disciplinary committee panel headed by Ahmed Mussa, which convened on June 12, found Zachariah guilty of contravening Sulom constitution Article 4.
According to the verdict which we have seen, Nyirenda is said to have admitted to misappropriating the match day funds because while in possession of the money, he received “news of a family emergency that needed finances and seeing that he had no money, he decided to use the match day revenue”.
Nyirenda, who apologised for the incident and paid back K1 million to Silver, pledged to pay back Bullets and Sulom’s share of the gate revenue.
However, the disciplinary committee resolved to remove him from his position.
The verdict reads: “The respondent admitted being guilty to both charges of abusing his authority as Sulom executive [member] by misappropriating match day revenue amounting to K2.8 million, thereby contravening Sulom guiding principles of interest of ‘affiliates, trust and social contract’ as provided in Articles 4 (3), 4 (4), and 4 (7) of the Sulom constitution and, thereby, damaging the good name of Sulom and bringing the game of football into dispute.”
“According to Article 4 (8) of the Sulom constitution, any contravention of this article shall constitute a serious breach of this constitution. Any person who is guilty of a fundamental breach of the constitution shall be removed from office having been given due notice of the charges against him or her and the opportunity to be heard in accordance with principles of natural justice. The committee, therefore, removes Mr. Zacharia Nyirenda from the office of executive member with immediate effect.”
Nyirenda was not available for comment, but Sulom president Tiya Somba-Banda confirmed the development in an interview on Wednesday.
He said: “Football administration in Malawi has evolved over the years and football itself is now a multi-million industry.
“It has taken a lot of efforts, financial discipline and people with integrity to build this.
“That’s the reason we had to put stiff penalties in our constitution to curb such type of misconducts.”
