Augustine Mukoka

AN INTERESTING CALL FROM MOSES SICHONE: HOW CHIPOLOPOLO ASSISTANT COACH CONFIRMED HIS APPOINTMENT WAS NOT TRANSPARENT

In response to an article I published yesterday, Chipolopolo assistant coach Moses Sichone graced me with a telephone call. It lasted 12 minutes.

Unknown to me at the time we spoke, he also attempted to reach me on a German number I could not recognize (I thought it was a spam call) so I bounced it off to voicemail. I will publish the audio in which he says my writing was BS in due course.

His reason to reach out? Issue threats that he will take legal action against me for questioning the procedure FAZ arrived at selecting him as assistant coach for Aljosa Asanovic.

Moses says I should not write about him because I don’t know him, “we have never met” and if I dare continued writing about his engagement, he will make one phone call to Europe where he says he had lived long enough to make my life difficult.

Well, I told Mr. Sichone to go ahead and make the phone call, ‘I was ready to meet his people fair and square.’

I told him I knew him very well. In fact, one of my assignment covering him at the national team was in October 2003 in an away fixture in Seychelles which Zambia won 4-0 (I inadvertently said Comoros in our conversation). His first touch, I told him yesterday, resulted in a corner which could have given the host team an early goal.

In August 2003, I was privileged to cover Zambia in Malawi, a match in which we were sent crashing out of the COSAFA semi-finals, with Mr. Sichone in defense.

Mr. Sichone further says he didn’t want me to write about his personality. I referred him to the article which had nothing personal but questioning the procedure of his appointment in relations to the FAZ constitution.

He then says he didn’t apply for the job. They went looking for him. In fact, he says the FAZ president as the overall boss made the decision to hire him.

I advised Mr. Sichone that the FAZ president had no absolute authority to appoint a member of the technical bench. That authority is vest in the FAZ executive committee.

Mr. Sichone also accused me of being paid to write about him. I told him not even him can pay me to write about anyone. I have never hired myself out to anyone.

He went on to say my opinion does not matter in Zambian football. I told him I was not seeking validation from anyone least of all himself because I was only contributing my thoughts to a game I had been a part of for nearly four decades.

Sichone claims to be the most qualified Zambian footballer for the assistant coach position. I told him I am aware that when he was interviewed for the position of coach before Asanovic was appointed, he scored poorly across all members of the interviewing panel – something like less than 40%.

One thing for sure is that Mr. Sichone came with a self-inflated approach believing he can intimidate me. Well, I have no doubt he went back a changed person.

I told him I will wait to hear from his lawyers so we can meet in court. I doubt he’ll ever call me again.

In a nutshell, Sichone let out some unsolicited yet vital information I now summarize as follow;

1.He confirmed our fears that he was appointed by the FAZ president.

  1. The report that the FAZ president submitted to the executive committee claiming that Sichone was appointed by a FAZ emergency executive committee is incorrect and false (one of the emergency committee members was unaware of such a decision).
  2. Chipolopolo coach Aljosa Asanovic also claims to be the one to have appointed Sichone.(This is incorrect; he doesn’t know Sichone. The reason Sichone was engaged is to take over from him; he was gone if we didn’t win against Comoros).

4.The FAZ executive committee only rubber-stamped a false presentation by the FAZ president when he explained the process used to hire Sichone.

While Sichone’s version of this engagement process is the correct one, it is inconsistent with the FAZ constitution and therefore a breach of the statutes. It explains why the process fell short of the transparency they preach.

What is happening in the engagement of Sichone and the attempts to oust Asanovic is part of the reason Zambia has failed to qualify to the Africa Cup of Nations three times in a row.

We have changed national team coaches at least five times in the last six years.

It’s impossible for a national team coach to properly settle down in the job in one year but this is what we have been doing the last six years

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here