By Duncan Mlanjira
James Leonard Mwenda, aspirant for the post of Football Association of Malawi (FAM) presidency, says that he shall make sure the senior Malawi national football team should qualify for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and that in 2031 they shall win the coveted for title.
Mwenda said this in his manifesto launched on Monday at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe, saying by 2031 the Flames shall be a big force as it shall be participating in other regional and international tournaments.
The AFCON trophy
“We will invest in all levels of football with the ultimate objective of developing football to feed the national men’s and women’s teams.”
Actions to be implemented to achieve this includes arranging advanced training programmes for national team coaches locally and externally and to engage FAs in countries where football is well developed to train our coaches on an ongoing basis.
National coaches shall be empowered
He pledges the implementing training programmes for coaches at grassroots levels using coaches and legends; maintain a consistent team and keep investing in the youth and provide incentives and develop a systematic calendar for friendly games in line with the strategic plan.
He says he shall ensure that national teams play friendly games with strong national teams; to introduce appearance fees for national team players as a replacement of daily training allowance and to increase player’s incentives by 50% of the current portfolio in collaboration with government and private sector.
He also promises to introduce player-public twinning programme, where members of the public can choose players to sponsor and support for a period of time; to introduce a medical policy for players in the national teams and to introduce medical insurance for all players in the national team.
He also says he shall introduce a local club protection programme which aims at compensating football player who get injured during games not covered by FIFA and to collaborate with TEVETA and introduce investment and entrepreneurial certified training programmes for players.
He shall engage economically successful legends to mentor current players and guide them on how to invest in preparation for life after football and to liaise with SULOM to conduct financial management training for football players.
“As a public football governing body, we will strengthen our collaboration with government and ensure total adherence to public administrative and financial management principles in line with the laws of our land.
“We will ensure that FAM secretariat is adequately capacitated in all departments, in order to support affiliates effectively and efficiently.
The man
“By 25 March, 2020, which will roughly be 100 days in office, I will have have rolled out a plan on how member associations will benefit from funding that come from FIFA and other regional and international bodies.
“I will have consulted with key stakeholders and developed a work plan and budget for the first year in line with our manifesto.
“I will have held my first Annual Football Conference involving all key stakeholders in Malawi to identify key barriers to football development, which will form the Strategic Plan and the Football Agenda 2030.
“I will have consulted and initiated development of FAM Strategic Plan for the period 2020-2023 and the Football Agenda 2030.