Malawi has issued a new directive stating that the government will no longer cover the entire cost of the men’s national football team coach’s salary, as has previously been the case.
Another change is that the Malawi government, through the Ministry of Youth and Sports, will only offer financial support to senior teams, excluding junior teams.
The directive states that the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) will then be in charge of paying the coaches’ salaries and funding all junior teams.
However, FAM president Fleetwood Haiya believes that this is impossible and that the government should oversee all national teams.
Despite Haiya’s stance, nothing will change because the government has already decided to follow its new directive.
Govt on Flames coach’s salary
Regarding the senior men’s national team coach’s salary, the ministry’s spokesperson, Macmillan Mwale, stated that the government is willing to fund it as long as it falls within its salary and benefits structure.
According to the Malawi Civil Service Salary Structure, grade A is the highest-paid position, earning K3.7 million (approximately $2,133). This means that the government will only pay this amount if FAM and a coach agree to receive it.
However, the salary is insufficient when compared to what the previous coach, Patrick Mabedi, received, which was around K13 million (approximately $7,495).
“The ministry’s position is that if the agreement between the coach and FAM is say K10 million ($5,765) as monthly salary, we will only be providing funds in line with the government salary structure and it will be up to FAM to source the bulk of the figure. We cannot provide more than what is provided for in the salary structure,” said Mwale.
Apart from salaries, the ministry has also told FAM that when submitting budgets to the government, they should only consider senior teams, saying junior teams are not the responsibility of the government.
“They have partners and sponsors where they also get funding. So, what we are saying is that their budgets should only be for senior teams; development is their responsibility,” he said.
Last year, FAM presented a budget of K4 billion (around $2.3 million) but what was given to the sports council was only K700 million ($403,565).
