NEWS | SPORTS | FOOTBALL

• Chester empties his chest, “I’m no longer contracted to Azam Tigers!”
• “Chester is a Tigers player till 2018” Jangale

By Madalitso Phiri

Who’s next? Who’s going to be the next Malawian footballer to dance to the bogus contract song courtesy of their respective teams’ administrators?

Jafalie Chande was the starring in last year’s TNM season when he was caught in the contractual wrangle with his former employers, Nyasa Big Bullets the moment the goal poacher had decided to jump into the blue ship of the Mighty Be Forward Wanderers.

The version befitted a comic Hollywood movie as the two sides produced totally different contracts, each claiming theirs was the authentic one. When the heat became unbearable, Bullets official sought redress from the football governing body. As the air of uncertainty was still lingering, Chande had to face some jail time under forgery and utterance of false document. And the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) had no option but to suspend the lethal forward until the dust had settled.

And settled it did. FAM had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Bullets had failed to produce convincing pieces of evidence to support their claim. Chande finally became a Nomad.

Such is the psychological torture locally based footballers do undergo the moment they express interest to switch guns. Truth be told, the modus operandi of player contracts in our elite league is not only shambolic, but also unprofessional, barbaric and day light thievery.

The latest episode of Chande’s comic series lookalike is a factory fresh verbal sparring involving Azam Tigers FC’s match maker, Yamikani Chester and his employers.

On Monday, (6 February 2017) just close to 12 noon, Chester took to his Facebook page and emptied his chest.

“Mukundisainira contract ya bodza ndiye mukuti ndikuguleni 10, million (Kwacha) tiyeni tisewere anthu akuba inu”, the post reads.

{Why are you forging my contract? So you are claiming that should I decide to ditch your team, I have to cough K10 million for breach of contract. Really? Come on!!! This is day light robbery!}

Ironically, according to the player, on numerous occasions, Azam Tigers’ Technical Director, Robin Alufandika has been dilly-dallying in offering Chester a chance to have peep at his contract as he claimed it was coming to an end last year.

“I don’t know why he (Alufandika) treated me that way. I’ve always been denied access to my own contract for the better part of last footballing season. I was doing this because my contract was going to an end during 2016 season, and as I’m saying my contract already expired on the 31^st of December 2016. I’m now a free agent! I’m not contracted to Azam Tigers currently,” Chester told EM in a telephone interview.

“Surprisingly, this time they are showing me another contract which shows that it is running until 2022 and they are saying if I want to move away, then I have to buy the contract with K10, million. It is a false contract forged by Alufandika. Mine expired in 2016,” He further claimed.

Effort to hear Alufandika’s side of the story yielded no success as both of his mobile numbers were unreachable.

The player further claims that the football mother body had never been of much help even though he had referred the matter to its offices.

When contacted, however, FAM’s Transfer and Marketing Systems Manager, Casper Jangale further added another twist into this reality TV series look alike.

“My office has been always open, he has never visited me, and he can come to me and see his contract. He has contract with Azam Tigers until 2018,” Jangale testified.

According to transfer rules and regulations, a player is free to start negotiations with other clubs if he wants to leave his current club. In Malawi, this seems to a major problem especially to key players. Either the team officials are criminals, or masquerade as criminals, or the players are too ignorant to understand the contractual issues.

So, as it stands, there are technically, three separate ‘contracts’ that Yamikani Chester signed with Azam Tigers. The first one by what the player is claiming, which has ended on the 31^st December 2016. The second one that the player claims Alufandika showed him, which purportedly, runs till 2022, and the one in custody of FAM (as per Jangale’s testimony) which obliges Chester to be an Azam Tigers employee until 2018.

Surprisingly, the player claims he harbours no intention of leaving the club currently. He claims he just wanted transparency on the part of his employers.

So, as the calendar is ticking closer to the 2017 Super league fiesta, hungry Malawians are eagerly monitoring the comic play that is Azam Tigers Drama group, with Chester as the main actor.

Whatever the outcome, it clearly shows that our football is civilizations behind in terms of professionalism.