The late Kaka Chibowa
* Madise alongside Chibowa, Mwenelupembe, Simon Itaye, Azikiwe Mussa-Mbewe Snr and others founded SULAM
* The elite football is indebted to the legend for securing sponsorship the top flight league’s sponsorship by TNM Plc
* As we ask God to receive your soul, we also thank Him for giving Kaka the football brains and great contributions to Malawi football
By Duncan Mlanjira
Founding member of the Super League of Malawi (SULOM), Henry Kaka Chibowa has died and in his eulogy, another pioneer of the top flight league, Malawi National Council of Sports Board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise took cognizance of Chibowa massive contribution the famous football administrator gave.
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He wrote on Facebook: “Just heard of the death of Henry Chibowa — Kaka, Gaston Mwenelupembe and yours truly were the brains behind the formation of SULAM.
“Hamba kahle mfwethu! Baya kuphumula kuphezulu,” said Madise, who alongside Chibowa, Mwenelupembe, Simon Itaye, Azikiwe Mussa-Mbewe Snr and others founded the Super League Association of Malawi (SULAM) that later changed to Super League of Malawi (SULOM).
Chibowa later was elected SULOM president and in his post, former SULOM president, Tia Somba Banda Tiya said the elite football is indebted to the legend for securing sponsorship the top flight league’s sponsorship by TNM Plc.
“Rest well, Henry, former President of SULOM. “As we ask God to receive your soul, we also thank Him for giving Kaka the football brains and great contributions to Malawi football.”
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Lawyer Edgar Kachere said indeed the football fraternity shall miss Chibowa, saying: “Great guy gone. MHSRIP! This one has hit hard.”
In a statement, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu Manda football has lost “a great leader who played a tremendous role in the formation of the Super League to be such a respected and highly entertaining league”.
“Further to that, he was also very instrumental in bailing out the Super League by securing sponsorship with TNM when it was on the verge of extinction. We can not talk about the glory of the Super League without attributing its success to late Henry Kaka Chibowa.
“I had the privilege of working with such a passionate, committed, and astute leader who had the foresight of transforming Malawi football.
“He will forever remain a legend of Malawi football. May his soul rest In peace,” Nyamilandu said.
Chibowa died on Tuesday morning at Mwaiwathu Hospital and details of his funeral programme will be announced later.
In offering his condolence, Henry Nyekanyeka said he never met Chibowa “but always liked his arguments during ‘The Bar’ — a satirical talk show on Mibawa TV with a setting of a pub that was hosted by renowned drama comedy legend, late Frank Mwatani Mwase.
Mwenelupembe was also a panelist together with several other renowned figures of the Malawi society.
Chibowa and Mwenelupembe rose to prominence when they were general secretaries of arch rivals Mighty Wanderers and Big Bullets when they bullied each other with words to spice up their teams’ hot derbies.
Chibowa was for Nomads and Mwenelupembe for the People’s Team, and in pre-match interviews and press briefings, the two took hit jabs at each other like sworn enemies — later to be seen together after the game having good camaraderie.
They made the Blantyre derbies very exciting and later they mobilized Madise, then with ESCOM United together with Azikiwe Mussa-Mbewe, Simon Itaye then with MDC United and several others to lobby the delinking of the Super League from FAM.
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