By Mast Reporter
FOOTBALL Association of Zambia (FAZ) president Andrew Kamanga has advised the football family to be wary of online domiciled mercenaries who thrive on targeted defamatory outbursts.
In his weekly column dubbed ‘The President’s Corner’, Kamanga said football is a game anchored on fair play and that there is nothing sinister about filing nominations from an online platform as is done for other football business like players and officials’ registration.
“In the spirit of fair play and inclusiveness, the Electoral Committee has left the door open for candidates preferring to physically file their nominations at Football House. It is an open secret that modern day football management has embraced technology as one of the tools to improve management of the game. With FAZ decentralized now, we expect our members to normalize operating from their bases unless where extreme necessity demands.
“Not too long ago, FIFA opened up a platform for examinations for agents to be done online and everyone applauded that move. For my FIFA Council seat candidacy, I did not have to go to Zurich to file my nomination but filed everything electronically as is standard procedure worldwide.,” Kamanga said.
He said FAZ was taken aback by the resistance to the online nominations, especially that the majority of the opposition was being done using online platforms.
Kamanga said ironically, the loudest voices against the user friendly and cost-effective mode were not even participants but pedestrian online commentators.
“For the record, nominations will run up to Friday with the Electoral Committee sieving through the nominations up to February 17, 2025 when successful candidates will be publicly announced.
“Candidates who may not be successful will have up to February 22 to appeal to the Appeals Committee. The final list after the appeals process has been exhausted will be unveiled on February 22 with the campaign period officially opening, “ Kamanga said.
He said FAZ had done its best to avail all its stakeholders with information around the elections.
Kamanga said FAZ had since served the notice to its membership with the requisite documents for the AGM , which was standard practice in line with his executive’s pledge to be ambassadors of transparency and accountability.
“Our advice to candidates is that they should observe the Electoral Code and constitution as they seek office. The football family should be wary of online domiciled mercenaries who thrive on targeted defamatory outbursts as football is a game anchored on fair play,” Kamanga said.
