Sports Minister rules out hiring expatriate football coach: Chiumia says Malawi govt is broke
Sports and Culture minister Grace Chiumia has ruled out the hiring of an expatriate football coach despite the Flames persistent poor performance, saying the government is too broke to pay a foreign coach.
Chiumia was responding to a question in parliament on Tuesday concerning her ministry vote.
“As of now, we have our local coach Ernest Mtawali whose contract expires after a month so as government we do not have plans to hire an expatriate coach who is very expensive,” said Chiumia.
Her comment comes barely three days after Football Association of Malawi agreed to fire Mtawali and replace him with Burundian Nswazirimo Ramadhan who has been deputy coach for the national team.
Reliable sources confirmed that Mtawali’s contract would not be renewed when it expires next month.
Malawi national team has not been doing well in recent tournaments.
Some FAM officials said the poor showing is mainly as a result of Mtawali’s uncoordinated choice of players during tournaments accusing him of not consulting the technical team when appointing a national team.
Other people on social media however blamed the government for poor funding of the Flames.
Several legislators who contributed on Tuesday noted that the government has poorly funded both the national football team and the national netball team K34 million each.
A countless number of foreign coaches have come and gone and the so called Malawi national team has remained pathetic, and it’s performance, as dismal as a hearse! This sports program is a spectacular waste of resources! It needs to be scrapped and the money put to better use, like fixing all the dilapidated schools all over Malawi. Or alternatively, invest in women’s netball, the Malawi Queens. The girls are consistently on the winning side, they’re not embarrassing to the country like those sorry dudes, and that’s where we need to invest our meager resources. Ndiye ndisamve mfwe mfwe mfwe… Read more »
Minister, try to do what someone wrote request Foreign countries assistance through embassies. The way it was done when Manfred Hooner was the Malawi Football National Coach. It was the Germany Government that was paying him not Malawi Government otherwise forget success and you will keep on crying and firing these your local coaches. Look for someone with experience,success and knows football development
This Girl Chiumya doesnt know about football issues. Dont hide behind Government being broke football is all about National Pride. You claim the Government has no money yet ministers enjoy huge allocation of fuel and you want to replace the Presidential convoy and the Mp s are getting subsidised loans is that a broke Govt?
Why should we fire coaches yet the Problem is with Management of FAM?
What is the bone of contention here, is Mtawali being fired because of the teams non-performance or his contract expires sometime next month? When are you going to stop feeding the general readership raw and substandard, hearsay news?
Komanso Ramadhan yo akufunika mwamsanga ku Nyasa Bullets chifukwa akulu alipowo ndiye ndi Mtawali yemwe.