Kinnah argues FAM had no basis to fire him as Malawi coach: Engages top law firm
The Malawi national team head coach Kinnah Phiri has argued that the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) had no basis to recommend to government that he should be sacked.
FAM issued a media statement last week that it had fired Kinnah alongside his technical team following a string of poor results by the Flames.
But the sports minister Enock Chihana said the Flames all time goal scorer was still in charge of the national team and what came from FAM was a mere request to have him fired.
The minister also said technically, Kinnah and his backroom staff are still employed by government until such a time when the process of terminating their contracts is finalized after they seek advice from the office of the Attorney General (AG).
Kinnah was due to meet government officials who include Principal Secretary II in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Justin Saidi, Sports Council executive secretary George Jana and FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda on Monday to hear his side on the reasons advanced by FAM in firing him. The meeting was postponed to Friday.
However, published reports say he trashed the reasons contained in the letter of recommending his dismissal.
“It clearly shows that they (FAM) had no basis at all for their decision to recommend the termination of my contract. They [FAM] are talking of continued poor performance of the national team when they were not able to provide adequate support to enable the team to have thorough preparations,” The Nation quoted Kinnah who was accompanied to Lilongwe by his lawyers from a top Blantyre law firm, Wilson and Morgan.
“And if they are talking about selection criteria, then they, too, are to blame because every call-up list had to be submitted to them for approval and if they felt that there were flaws in the process, then they could have intervened through their technical subcommittee, but they never did that,” said Kinnah.
Every call-up list was submitted to the FAM president Walter Nyamilandu and chief executive officer for approval, claimed the coach.
At its executive meeting held in Blantyre, FAM agreed to terminate the services of Kinnah (barely four months into his two-year contract), his deputy Young Chimodzi and technical director Jack Chamangwana citing poor performance.
The three still have 18 months remaining on their two-year contracts.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
