Northern Region FA campaign heating up

December 2020 is a month for general elections for the Northern Region Football Association (NRFA) just like in the central and southern regions.

Executive members in all these regional football associations have served their four-year term and they have to maintain or lose their positions through the December elections.

In the northern region, campaign is slowly but seriously heating up as the Chair, the General Secretary and Treasurer want to cling to their positions. This will not be easy though, as some notable persons have come out in the open to declare their interest to contest.

Felix Mbonekera Msiska, who was vice chairperson to Lameck Khonje will challenge Khonje on the position of Chairperson. Former Karonga United Chairperson, Alufeyo Chipanga wants to be Vice Chairperson while Obua Mwamusamale is challenging the current treasurer Chauka Mwasinga.

General Secretary Masiya Nyasulu openly said he will contest to safeguard his position but Fixtures Secretary, Ollens Msonda, says it is time to fix and change things for the better as he will be challenging Nyasulu on the position of General Secretary.

Among other things, Nyasulu has maintained that the present committee has achieved a number of things. He cites the introduction of the annual top four bonanza for northern region SIMSO Premier League in addition to sending four teams into the elite league making the number of super league teams in the north to be five.

But Msonda says NRFA has not done enough to promote the northern region league.

“The current administration at NRFA is not inspiring. It is centred around very few people, if not three, and it is not open for other people’s input or constructive criticism. There has always been resistance for Annual General Meetings and approval of budgets by all the teams involved, since 2016. This is against our constitution.

“I am coming in as General Secretary to open up and make information available for all stakeholders in order to attract more and more sponsors for our league which is the lowest at a miserable value of K5 million,” Msonda told Nyasa Times.

Obua Mwamusamale said time is up for an executive committee whose treasurer resists presenting financial reports.

“I have been asked to contest as treasurer and I have agreed. Teams have always complained of not getting financial reports from the current treasurer. I am an accountant by profession and I want to improve handling of funds at the association where transparency will be very paramount,” Mwamsamale said.

Former NRFA General Secretary and FAM executive member, Julius Mithi, says it does not pay to be cocooned when things are going wrong somewhere.

“I wonder when the current GS talks about five teams staying in the elite league as an achievement. Achievements should be measured on what one is doing right there in the NRFA.

“If you look at sponsorship for the SIMSO League, you will notice it is very pathetic. The current executive has failed to convince the cooperate world to come in and co-sponsor the league with Bishop Simama,” remarked Mithi.

Meanwhile, the current General Secretary has accused Gracian Mbewe of Tuntufye FM based in Karonga for biased reporting towards the December elections.

In a leaked telephone conversation with one of the Directors of Tuntufye FM, Nyasulu threatened with a legal action for both the radio presenter and the institution.

“We feel other quarters are using that radio to bring confusion in our association. If we seek legal action, it will seem we are overlooking the good work the radio does and it may lose listenership.

“He does not balance his stories and we feel he is failing his duty because we get a lot of feedback from our fans as well,” Nyasulu remarked.

For some time, a good number of officials from teams that play in the SIMSO Premier League have continuously lamented maladministration and mismanagement of funds at the Northern Region Football Association (NRFA).

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