NO SENSE IN GESTURING KINNAH PHIRI THE 'MIDDLE' FINGER

It has now become a common practice  that every time the country’s soccer team ‘The Flames’ loses a match, Monday coaches descend to the social media where they gang up against head coach Kinnah Phiri,  throw him insults and call him all sorts of unpleasant names.

The alien behavior has been the order of the day in recent years but it has reached crescendo more especially under the tutelage of Phiri.

And as expected, when news broke out that the national team had lost to a low fancied side Rwanda in the on-going Cecafa tourney; all the sarcastic adjectives one could think of were used just to prove dissatisfaction with Kinnah, his divided coaching panel and the ham-fisted squad.

According to those that watched the match, Malawi’s performance was below-par and left-a-lot-to be desired.

Soccer loving Malawians [or let me say Facebook loving Malawians] had no choice but to lash out at the coach describing him an ‘incompetent’ northerner [have no idea whatever that means].

Honestly, it’s indeed painful for any level headed Malawian to be associated with a national team that is only there to drain the hard earned foreign reserves to travel abroad only to fail to score not even an off-side goal in the entire ninety minutes of play.

Personally, while I’m burning like hell over the team’s lethargic performance, still I do not think that Kinnah Phiri [the northerner] is the villain here.

Yes, we’re blaming the wrong guy because the main problem in this whole hullabaloo is the charges Kinnah has at disposal. Frankly, looking at the foundation of the players he is using, one would quickly rush to conclusion that the country has a long way to go before we could even start smiling again.

I have reached to this harsh conclusion because we have a generation of half-baked footballers not befitting the status of even carrying training boots of a national team material.

Where on earth do you see a player exhumed from Hon. Ezekiel Ching’oma’s football trophy somewhere in typical village down Nkhoma in Lilongwe going straight to play for a big team like Big Bullets or Wanderers then next thing you hear of is that he is putting on national team jersey? Alas!!

That is exactly the situation with today’s Malawi football, our soccer players lack simple soccer basics to make them compete at international level.

This can easily be strengthened by the fact that the kind of players we hold in higher esteem here at home have failed our intelligence every time they are deployed for professional football abroad in one way or the other.

It really embarrasses me to be associated with a team whose captain, his vice, the top two strikers, the best holding midfielder [basing on Malawi standards] were either rejected or plying trade in the Mvela league. This is really embarrassing.

Such is the sorry state we are finding ourselves into. Take for instance, Davie Banda on the local scene, he is so far the best holding midfielder we have around but the only reason he was shown the exit door in Mzansi is because he lacks basic knowledge of football modus operandi, the same applies to Chiukepo Msowoya, Moses Chavula, Joseph Kamwendo etc etc.

If these were real stars in their own right, as others would want to make us believe, then can someone explain to me why we still have them loitering around town in company of Chilomoni queens? Maybe I’m missing something.

But as long as the country continues to neglect the basic principle of football philosophy which is to develop soccer right from the nursery level, then I’m afraid we have not seen anything worse yet and I can challenge you that at the rate we’re moving it will take us some two good decades before we can qualify for a world cup tournament.

As for African Cup of Nations, well I have no idea because qualification for the bi-annual continent showcase sometimes require good omen, ask Cape Verde and Zambia.

Anyway, looking at the Flames’ current state-de-affairs, it is day dreaming to expect contrary results to the ones we are getting.

I will not be doing justice to the country if I start listing down all the contributing factors to the dwindling standards of football but one thing I’m very sure of is that Kinnah Phiri’s role is being comprised as he concentrates much on nurturing the players instead of sharing with them his game philosophy.

Ask any renowned media soccer pundit such as Peter Kanjere, Garry Chirwa, Madalitso Mussa (lol), Gracian Tukula, Duncan Mlanjira not to mention my man Hasselbaink Kachinziri; they would all agree with me [at least] that the job of Kinnah is to come up with the best game plan spiced up with strategy and philosophy not the other way round.

Unfortunately, that is not the case at the present moment as he is moving one step forward and four steps backwards because he is investing much of his time and resources on mentoring the players on ball passing, ball control, ball-juggling (kudoda) even dribbling…koma zoona?

I’m just being reminded that it is only in Malawi where a player is called for national team duties, not because his time has come to play for his country, but because he is competing with some small usipa from Lake Malawi for popularity.

So as long as we do not redefine Kinnah’s role as head coach, then we are spelling doom on our very chances of developing the beautiful game in our country.

For heaven’s sake it is utter garbage for a national team player to undergo ball controlling lessons just three days before facing neck-breaking encounter. Where is the art and ability then? Such techniques were supposed to be instilled in the players during their soccer academy days not now.

Such is the vicious circle we have in our midst and the question still remains; how then do we move forward? Should we continue keeping our faith in the once prolific striker in 70s and 80s as head coach or we should find solace in new mentor?

Well I will leave that for you my dear comrades` to decide but one thing I will not tolerate is the behavior of showing Kinnah the ‘middle’ finger every time the team performs badly, to me it is not just his fault maybe on this one Fam officials can be able to explain to us on where we are standing as regards to the establishment of soccer academies we were promised, I believe that is the clear-cut future.

So once again, spare Kinnah Phiri from your middle finger gibes. Maybe you can use such gestures elsewhere but not the coach; he simply has no feelings for that!!!!!!!

CALLISTA MUTHARIKA FIGHTING A LOSING BATTLE

For many, Callista Chapola Mutharika is an elegant and socialite former first lady, while to others she represents a crème of opportunistic women who always get what they want in life by all means necessary.

Callista has recently been dominating media headlines for simply clinging to vast wealth left by her deceased husband Bingu wa Mutharika.

She sought court relief so that she is made administrator of Bingu’s property which also has imposing structures like Villa Casablanca and Mpumulo wa Bata both located inside the vicinity of Ndata estate.

The past weeks have seen Callista finding herself in very awkward position by publicly tussling with her step children.

The latest meanwhile, is that the warring sides saw it fit to finally listen to voice of reason and they agreed to settle the matter out of court.

Barely days after announcing the truce, it was discovered through the media that Callista is not part of Bineth Trust which owns all the billions of wealth of the fallen leader.

The new twist of events according to some legal experts is a blow below the chest of Callista as her argument that Bingu was about to co-opt her as a trustee cannot hold water in any compete court of law unless the late president comes back to life in order to back up the claim.

I, for one, came to know Callista during my early days in the media when she was Tourism Minister.

I still remember as young journalists, full of excitement, how we used to throng to the Central Office of Information (COI) everytime she was holding regular interactions with the media just to get a glance at her sexy legs as she was fond of putting on exposing outfits.

It therefore did not come as a surprise to me when news started to make rounds that the former cabinet minister, who went on to lose her parliamentary seat years later, was enjoying some bed time moments with the then ‘Big Kahuna’.

The rumor turned to be an otherwise gospel truth as months later the two exchanged engagement rings followed by the tax payers witnessing what could be billed as wedding of the decade [yes, because a decade ago the same tax payers were onlookers to another presidential wedding, the first of its kind actually, involving former president Bakili Muluzi and his beloved wife of five children Patricia Shanil Muluzi who ended up severing marital ties at one of the magistrate court yards in town in years to follow, yes such is life]. Please don’t bother to ask me why the two agreed to go separate ways because I’m equally in the dark but what I know is that the two had ‘irreconcilable’ differences, whatever that means, but it is what Magistrate Mangawa ‘Ngiwi’ Makhalira told the world. Anyway it’s not the point of discussion for today.  

Back to our subject matter Callista, now that the rat is out of the worn out bag, I see the former first lady throwing all her might into the battle field just to have her way because history has taught us that she turns out to be a dangerous vampire especially when she is forced to face the wall.

On this I’m reminded of a story of how Callista paid back our leader Mrs. Joyce Banda who had used her connections to-help-her-friend secure lucrative job as Country Director of Hunger Project, a brain child of the president.

There are so many stories told about how the camaraderie between the two ambitious ladies soured as Callista reportedly used her influence to bad mouth JB to donors and she finally got her way because the president, who by then was a women’s rights activist and politician, got booted out of the project she initially helped to establish.

Whatever took place between her time at Hunger Project to National Assembly, back to the streets before a-catapult-effect landed her to state house, is something Callista will be able to tell the world whenever she decides to write her memoirs, definitely the country deserves some sort of an account of her life.

However, what I’m aware of is that while swimming in corridors of influence Callista became intoxicated by power and reignited her fight against JB who by then was the serving lame duck Vice President of Malawi.

She used her tricks to force her husband to fire Banda as Safe-motherhood and Maternal Health Ambassador only for her to assume the role but for a price as she was carting home some millions in salary and allowances combined for a voluntary job which the then vice president was doing for free.

That is where she lost the fight, the war and the battle against JB all at once, because by accepting to be paid lump-sum of money she automatically widened the battle field.

This was a miscalculation of highest order because instead of focusing on Joyce Banda in her fight, Callista now had the civil society, media, clergy and international community to deal with as they, in their respective regard, came so hard on the former first couple.

Today, as we’re speaking, history is repeating itself, Callista has fallen from grace; she is now a common citizen loitering around town.

It has to be well said that the talk making rounds in corners of town that she is intending to make a political comeback is not just a fallacy and that her fighting with Bingu daughters is not coincidental either.

She could have miscalculated her moves on one or two occasions previously but one thing I know for sure is that she is not yet finished. In fact she is more dangerous now because she has the financial stamina.

Her claim over the Bingu’s property is enough demonstration for the world and all her adversaries to acknowledge that the woman is in fighting spirit.

But the only difference, this time around, is that she is playing second fiddle and no longer in commanding position to pick up another fight against a woman she has chosen to hate to the bone.

In the next presiding days, weeks, months even years will be for us to see how Callista, now squeezed to the wall courtesy of natural events, will pick herself up.

In such regard, i'm optimistic that her fight against the Mutharika family will not end in her favor just like the previous one she waged against JB, she lost it big time.

Maybe it is time she changed the game plan to suit her present predicament, otherwise she has more home work to do!!!!!

A NEW PHENOMENON LIKELY TO SHAKE MALAWI

Dear fellow patriotic Malawians,

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