Sports minister Elvis Nkandu on Tuesday snubbed the FAZ Executive Committee led by president Andrew Kamanga.
Nkandu was due to meet Kamanga and the FAZ executive yesterday to discuss the proposed appointment of soccer icon Kalusha Bwalya as sports director responsible for football and youth development.
The two parties had agreed to keep details of the initial meeting which was attended by Kamanga, Kalusha, the Minister of Sport and Permanent Secretary Kangwa Chileshe last week, confidential but the development was prematurely leaked to mainstream media.
The leaked report suggested that Nkandu was imposing Kalusha on FAZ through a non-existent position that carried terms of reference equivalent to that of an employee of the football association’s technical directorate.
When the information leaked, Nkandu deflected the report saying no such meeting took place. His permanent secretary Kangwa Chileshe repeated the same narrative.
However, a follow up leak exposed the two government officials as FAZ correspondence supplied to The Mast, which publication first leaked the initial article, confirmed the meeting that mooted the idea to engage Kalusha.
Sources have disclosed that Nkandu is disappointed with the unprofessionalism displayed by FAZ.
“The information was leaked by FAZ to expose the Minister and the government to some sort of ridicule. This idea to engage Kalusha was born out of a noble call to improve the poor performance of our national teams but it appears FAZ are not happy and embarked on a move to discredit the government officials at the Ministry of Sport,” the source said.
When Nkandu learned of the scheme to discredit him, he opted out of the meeting with FAZ yesterday which was meant to fine tune the details of engaging Kalusha.
The minister, according to officials, has resolved not to meet FAZ officials because of the dishonesty they have displayed so far.
“When the FAZ officials showed up at the office yesterday, they waited for a very long time. They actually left without seeing the minister,” the source added.
No official explanation has been given for Nkandu’s decision to stay away from FAZ executive committee officials that visited his office for a scheduled meeting.