SHENKO DARES KAMANGA

By Fulman Mukobeko

FOOTBALL administrator Elijah Chileshe popularly known as Shenko says Football Association of Zambia(FAZ) President Andrew Kamanga lied when he said that the two individuals who accompanied the Zambia national men’s football team to the Africa Cup of Nations as advance party were in the subcommittee.

But governance Activist Samson Zulu has emphasized that the recent happenings at FAZ is a desperate attempt to hound out the Kamanga because of the sanity he had brought under his tenure of office.

The Drug Enforcement Commission(DEC) recently arrested Kamanga, his deputy Reuben Kamanga and two other individuals namely Madalitso Kamanga and Jairos Siame for money laundering.

According to DEC, the suspects while acting together obtained K341,902.00 from the Government of the Republic of Zambia under false pretenses and this money was purportedly allocated as allowances for Madalitso Kamanga and Siame to attend the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

The allowances were transferred into their personal accounts, with each receiving K170,951.00. Furthermore, the duo also obtained return tickets valued at K99,980.00.

However, it was discovered that neither Siame nor Madalitso Kamanga held any official or executive position in FAZ despite the FAZ boss claiming that the duo were members of the FAZ subcommittee.

But in an interview, Chileshe said Madalitso and Siame were nowhere near FAZ and that even if the two were in the subcommittee, they were not entitled to travel to the Africa Cup.

He said the only people who are entitled to go as an advance party were elected members as their names were at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and World Football governing body FIFA.

“If those guys are very busy, the Technical Director employed by FAZ can go to an advance party. This is so because, if an accident happened to those people at the AFCON, who was going to compensate them? CAF and Government could not compensate them. They are not entitled,” Chileshe said

He said the arrest of Kamanga and others by the DEC was done in good faith.

“The arrest of Kamanga was done in a genuine manner. A crime is a crime. When you commit a crime, according to the Zambian law, you need to be investigated. No one is above the law,” he said.

He said the time Kamanga went to negotiate with the Government, is the time he admitted that he had committed a crime.

“You remember, he went and negotiated with the minister. That is the time he admitted the offence,” he said.

And Chileshe has backed calls for Kamanga to resign on moral grounds for failing to pay Serbian Coach Aljosa Asanovic US$ 1.1 million.

He said Kamanga had raised controversy because of his executive’s failure to pay Aljosa Asanovic and attracting sanctions from FIFA.

“Let Andrew Kamanga resign then FIFA will not ban us. If he resigns then he will be saving 20 million Zambians from being banned by FIFA. Let him not blackmail the Government,” he said

He said Kamanga had numerous cases he must deal with.

He said the FAZ president abused his authority the very day he was elected into office on 16 March 2016 when he booked his campaign team at a named hotel in Ndola allegedly using FAZ resources.

“It does not mean that when you are in football, you can’t be taken to court. If suppose today, I am a FAZ President, then I kill someone, you mean cannot be prosecuted? Kamanga has no immunity despite holding a position at FAZ,” he said.

But Zulu said Kamanga ‘s move to introduce the sale of tickets through Compu-Ticket completely eliminating the sale of tickets on the black market and that this had not sat well with people who depended on the illicit activity hence all the wrangles going on to try and hound him out using backdoor methods.