Kondwani Chamwala’s team touted to take over Athletics Malawi management
Following leadership turmoil in the past few years in Athletics Malawi — that forced Malawi National Council of Sports to dissolve it and replaced with an interim committee in order to pave way for fresh elections — a team led by Kondwani Chamwala is touted to take over at the elective general assembly scheduled for Saturday, December 2.
Chamwala, the passionate organiser of Mulanje Mountain Porters Race — the annual extreme athletics event — is vying for the presidency in solidarity with Dennis Phiri (1st vice-president); Ivy Chinangwa (2nd vice-president); Nicholas Kanyenda (general secretary); Charles Senti Banda (vice-general secretary); Adron Msowoya (treasurer) and Henderson Chilenga (vice-treasurer).
Chamwala is up against Frank Chitembeya, the association’s former general secretary, who was in the committee that Sports Council dissolved, whose issues Chitembeya was at the centre of.
Dennis Phiri will be up against Francis Munthali; Ivy Chinangwa against
Bertha Nyangulu; Nicholas Kanyenda against Blantyre 42.195km Race organiser, Mzee Makawa; Ken Phiri against Charles Banda; Adron Msowoya against Drake Chithambo while Henderson Chilenga is up against three others — Gift Chirwa, Ken Dzekedzeke and Leonard Dzanja.
Chamwala’s dream combination — dubbed #TeamRealChange# — pledges “to bring the long and much needed change that will benefit athletes and athletics in the country”.
“This is the beginning of the journey,” said the campaign flyer posted on social media. “This is a right step in transforming Athletics Malawi…let athletics win.”
The flyer thanks those who nominated the seven aspirants, saying: “This is evidence enough that the family is subscribing to fresh dreams that will spur athletics’ prosperity in Malawi.”
A notice from Confederation of African Athletics Southern Region (CAA-SR) — who are overseeing the elections on behalf of Sports Council and World Athletics — says “the list of candidates whose papers and qualifications are in order will be communicated in accordance with the 2023 Athletics Malawi Electoral Code and Circular 007/23.
The former committee was dissolved following leadership wrangles, mismanagement of resources and overstaying their mandate, which was in breach of the association’s constitution that forced Sports Council to oust the members.
But, led by Chitembeya, the committee was adamant, describing Sports Council intervention as government interference and as the infighting continued, Sports Council sought the guidance of World Athletics, which mandated CAA-SR to visit Malawi on a fact-finding mission to resolve the infighting.
In October, a delegation from CAA-SR, led by its president, Zakhele Dlamini from e-Swatini and general secretary Tselinso Pheta from Lesotho met Minister of Sports Uchizi Mkandawire, Sports Council, Malawi Olympic Committee and concerned athletics officials at Bingu International Convention Centre where it was announced that World Athletics has taken over to organise Athletics Malawi elections.
Dlamini was quoted by the media back in October, saying there was a disagreement on who was to conduct the elections after the appointment of the caretaker committee by Sports Council and had to intervene and take over the organisation of the polls.
The delegation also noted several anomalies that included adoption of three constitutions and Dlamini had assured the public that they were “committed to resolve these agreements for the development of the sport”.
Soon after it was resolved that CAA-SR had taken over the process, Chitembeya approached the media indicating that Malawi Government would bear costs of the elections and accommodation of the delegates while World Athletics will cover traveling costs for the team.
This riled CAA-SR forcing Dlamini and his team to write a letter addressed to interim leadership of Athletics Malawi, distancing itself from Chitembeya’s assertion, saying: “We are not aware of such arrangements, and we do not know where and how did the said Mr. Chitembeya entered into such agreement with the aforementioned organizations without our knowledge.
“Such public statements may not sit well with some of our stakeholders and in the process jeopardize our efforts to resolve the Athletics Malawi leadership wrangle.
“In view of the above, the Executive Committee of Athletics Malawi is instructed to desist from making any public statements regarding athletics in Malawi pending finalization of the leadership turmoil.”
In April, former Malawi Athletics president, Godfrey Phiri — who has not been nominated to retain his seat — defied Sports Council by representing the association at launch of Standard Bank Be More Race and when asked if he was allowed to represent the association, Sports Council Board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise’s response was an emphatic “No!”
Godfrey Phiri, alongside general secretary, Frank Chitembeya, were first banned in February “from taking part in, participating in and organizing any athletic events in the country” and later the ban was lifted after both apologised to the sports mother governing body for their misgivings.
However, Madise had emphasized that the two did not retain their positions since an operation committee was constituted that is running AAM’s technical aspects which was “working on logistics for regional and national elections after the constitution was adopted”.
Sources within AAM has been complaining that the association’s leadership had overstayed and that they were completely ignoring Sports Council, citing government interference as justification for their defiance.
Two years ago, AAM suspended Chitembeya on several grounds including abuse of office and a vote of no confidence on him that was passed by the body’s executive committee during a meeting held on March 13, 2021.
The grounds of the suspension included open defiance and blatant disregard to AAM working rules and regulations and its constitution and working unilaterally without consulting the executive committee on critical issues affecting the corporate integrity of the association.
He was also accused of usurping the role of technical committee on athletes selection to international events as well as refusing to harmonise world athletics list of activities funded by the world body and was ordered to surrender all documents to the association’s president upon receiving the letter.
An internal audit report for 2017-18, exposed financial mismanagement at the athletics body in which about K50 million was unaccounted for.
But Chitembeya still bounced back as the association was in the process of amending its constitution, who held back the document till the end of its deadline for submission to Sports Council — forcing the country’s sports governing body, mandated by the Laws of Malawi, to intervene.
Most associations had not been adhering to their own constitutional obligations igniting the Sports Council to formulate management guidelines way back in 2016 but had still not been followed to the book until the mother governing body revisited and finetuned them last year.
They include most importantly the association’s own constitutional obligations of holding annual general meetings (AGMs); presentation of audited accounts; strong governance (high academic qualifications, physical offices and terms of office); local and international competitions participation; paying subscription fees to Sports Council — among others.
The Council — which is mandated by the Laws of Malawi — ordered all associations to submit confirmations that they have held AGMs in the past 12 months or intend to do so by the end of the 2022-2023 financial year.
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