By Kennedy Gondwe
HOW CAN OUR FOOTBALL HEAL LIKE THIS?
The announcement for the eligible Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) candidates has been made and Andrew Ndanga Kamanga goes through unopposed – he will be incharge of the sport for the next four years having done nine already.
And I thought the last time I saw a circus in Lusaka was the 1994 Akef Egyptian one but how mistaken I have been!
This may sound like an oxymoron, but the announcement that only Kamanga has gone through unopposed is sad as it is laughable.
Many others vying for lower positions have been disqualified – including those that had already been serving at national executive level.
Make it make sense to me that from a total of nine contestants, only Kamanga met the criteria while eight others huffed and puffed the process.
I am keen to know how only Andrew Ndanga Kamanga was the only saint in town while the rest were not.
I think that our football needs a truth and reconciliation approach, not arguments based on the constitution.
Mostly, rightly or wrongly, people have been arguing using the constitution from their vantage points.
In fact, it’s folly – to a larger extent – to argue based on the constitution when the very document is largely the source of conflicts. It is defective and riddled with many lacunae.
If I were Kamanga, I would appeal to the executive or anyone willing to listen, proposing to reopen the nomination process and allow everyone who meets the minimum requirements to stand as part of the unity and healing process.
When countries that have been at war decide to appoint truth and reconciliation commissions, it doesn’t mean they have thrown away their sovereignty or constitutions, where murderers deserve to be executed or serve life sentences.
Such an approach is not a weakness but a strength.
Personally, I would never have wanted Andrew Ndanga Kamanga to be banned or disqualified because of his issues with the Drug Enforcement Commission, though in the past, the FAZ integrity test, in a similar situation, has been used to disqualify others.
Likewise, he should have let his opponents stand and let any aspiring leader with minimum qualifications stand, win, or be soundly spanked. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Losers would have congratulated winners as long as they won fairly.
Our football would have healed and factions would be a thing of the past.
But now, the nonsense continues – super charged like on steroids.
Let’s face it: our football is more toxic than the country’s politics when the sport is supposed to unite everyone.
Never before has our football been this toxic, in fact.
At this rate, I see many people who have been disqualified going to court. Can you blame them?
I foresee a ban by FIFA or a Normalization Committee.
While football preaches fair play, where is that fair play in what has just been announced?
Picture credit: FAZ