ANDREW KAMANGA
ANDREW KAMANGA

LEAVE KAMANGA ALONE – FAZ VEEP RESPONDS TO MBULAKULIMA

Press Statement
(For Immediate Release)
Football Association of Zambia
Football House, Lusaka

14TH OCTOBER 2021

FAZ VEEP RESPONDS TO MBULAKULIMA

We have taken note of the letter written by Mr. Mwansa Mbulakulima a former two-party Member of Parliament for Milenge Constituency on the FAZ president Mr. Andrew Kamanga.

Mr. Mbulakulima, who was an executive committee member almost two decades ago and serving on the dissolved Zamsure Football Club executive then says Mr Kamanga should resign based on the performance of the Zambia Men’s National Team in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

“The FAZ executive committee finds it strange that Mr. Mbulakulima singled out Mr. Kamanga in a 14-member executive committee on the performance of the Chipolopolo when the problems are multi-faceted. FAZ manages five men’s national teams (U15, U17, U20, U23 and Chipolopolo while they additionally manage three women’s national teams (U17, U20 and Copper Queens. The normal scorecard of judging the executive should be on the performance of all the national teams,” says FAZ vice president Justin Mumba.

“The FAZ executive committee that was elected in February 2021 comprises 13 elected officials that manage the game collectively. The executive is only in its eighth month of their four-year mandate and would be happy to be judged after that period.”
Mumba wonders why Mr. Mbulakulima has only found his voice now when he remained quiet when the Patriotic Front government repeatedly harassed FAZ disrupting the smooth running of the game.

“Mr. Mbulakulima should also be reminded that FAZ struggled to hold elections for a year owing to political interference to an extent that Zambia almost got suspended by FIFA from all football activities.” he says.

“The claims that Mr Kamanga has been fighting to block people to challenge him is fallacious as all the changes to the FAZ constitution were FIFA directed.”

“For the record no one has ever been blocked from contesting elections as anyone who qualified under the revised constitution was allowed to stand in the polls presided over by FIFA.”
He adds: “We, therefore, advise Mr. Mbulakulima to openly express his interest to contest for the FAZ presidency as provided for in the constitution as opposed to issuing wild and misleading statements.”

Mumba says it is unfair to judge FAZ based on the performance of one of its numerous teams.
“The FAZ Executive committee has scored many successes in other areas which need to be noted like the U20 AFCON victory in 2017 for the first time ever, qualifying the Women National team to the Olympics for the first time and FAZ has set a high benchmark in terms of managing the resources which speaks to the transparency and accountability espoused by Mr. Kamanga,” he says.

“We continue operating on an open-door policy basis and invite all the those who have ideas to improve the performance of our national teams to come on board and contribute to the development of the game.”

Mumba says FAZ is continuously responsive to feedback and will continue to work tirelessly towards improving the game.
“The Chipolopolo may have suffered several setbacks but the current outlook with a lot of progressive stakeholders point to a turnaround of fortunes,” he says.

For and on behalf of:
FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION OF ZAMBIA
Sydney Mungala
COMMUNICATIONS

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here