No appointment of expat coach – Malawi govt

Malawi government has ruled out a possible appointment of an expatriate coach to head the Flame technical bench, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Mac Millan Walter Nyamilandu has confirmed.

FAM are seeking a replacement for Ernest Mtawali who who was sacked from the Malawi coaching post  and Gerald Phiri Snr is the caretaker coach for the Flames.

Nyamilandu said FAM made a proposal to hire  an expatriate coach  to government through the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development but it has been turned down.

FAM president said Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development  Henry Mussa informed him that ” the proposal has not been approved” by the government which is advancing austerity measures due to cash shortages.

Expatriate coaches that have shown interest in the Flames coaching job are reportedly demanding a minimum of K9 million monthly salaries.

The Ministry had referred the proposal to President Peter Mutharika and flatly refused to sustain huge bills for expatriate coach at the time the economy is depressed.

fford to sustain such an arrangement,” said Nyamilandu

The K9 million salary  excludes other expenses like house allowance, a car, fuel and other benefits the coach would demand.

The expatriate perks are four times what the other local coaches FAM engaged in the past using funding from government—Ernest Mtawali, Young Chimodzi, Kinnah Phiri and Jack Chamangwana—were getting.

FAM wants a long-term contract—preferably three years—with the foreign coach.

And now Nyamilandu said they will consider the hiring of a foreign coach from within Africa which could be “relatively cheaper.”

Nyamilandu has not ruled out  appointing  a local coach to start preparing for the forthcoming Chan [Championship of African Nations] preliminary qualifiers against Madagascar next month.

But football anlyst Charles Nyirenda who once served as FAM secretary geenral  said priority should be  on  tackling the root cause of dwindling standards of football.

“Personally I have my doubts about our national team prospects being far better under an expatriate coach. If FAM thinks that short-term measures can bring quick success, let them hire a foreign coach. But if history is to guide us, the better results ever achieved by our national teams came when local coaches—Henry Moyo, Reuben Malola, Mathews Mwenda and Kinnah Phiri were at the helm,”  Nyirenda is on record saying

Nyamilandu could not disclose applicants for the Malawi coaching job.

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