Malawi Olympic board member spill beans
After Nyasa Times reported about the expulsion of vice general secretary Hackson Chapasa from Malawi Olympic Committee (Moc) board on flimsy grounds, a senior member from the board has revealed that the committee’s treasurer Jappie Mhango and committee member Henry Sakala were behind the move.
The board member, speaking on strict conditions of anonymity has told Nyasa Times that it were Mhango and Sakala, who influenced both the suspension and expulsion of Chapasa, having felt threatened by the presence of the seasoned administrator who has been questioning the mal-administration practices within the Olympic body.
According to the member, Mhango and his closest ally Sakala have not been seeing eye-to-eye with Chapasa since Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) started investigating Moc on the misuse of Olympi-africa funds.
The source says Sakala also believes it was Chapasa, who implicated him in the rumour mongering saga that saw the Malawi Boxing Association (Maba) vice president suspended for a year by Sports Council for spreading false rumors about his fellow boxing official raping a female athlete.
Sakala is said to have vowed to take revenge against Chapasa after being taken to task by Sports Council.
“These (Mhango and Sakala) are the most powerful members in our board. The president (Oscar Kanjala) does not have powers since he was just handpicked by Mhango after the death of former president Floriano Massa.
“Mhango (who was acting as president then) knew that if another president was elected by the ballot, he would have little control of affairs in the board and he bulldozed his way to see Kanjala assuming the presidency by the back door,” said the member.
The Moc board member revealed that since Massa’s death, there has been gross mismanagement of funds in Moc and that those who posed a threat to the body including members of the media were bribed with money, positions or promised foreign trips.
“As I talk to you now, your colleagues (journalists) have benefited from money handouts and some were promised a trip to the London Olympic Games. Those, who voiced against the shabby dealings in our board like John Kaputa were offered board positions while other vocal people like Krishna Achuthan and Duncan Gumbi were ushered into the committee that is overseeing the Olympi-africa project,” revealed the board member.
The member urged government to send auditors to the Olympic body, claiming some of the funds being mismanaged were public funds.
“It is unfortunate that whenever government tries to scrutinize our operations, we rush to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to say government is interfering in our operations. This is just a ploy to cover up for the mess,” the official said.
Efforts to talk to Sakala and Mhango proved futile and the two had not responded to emails sent to them by Nyasa Times.
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