By FELIX MALUNGA –
ZONE Three vice-chairperson, Kharika Phiri has described Chess Federation of Zambia (CFZ) president, Yohane Mukabe’s claim that he is not a member of the local chess family as pretence of the highest order.
Reacting to Mukabe’s statement where he disowned him (Phiri) over his comment on the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ), Phiri said it was shocking that the CFZ president could now turn around and claim that he was no longer a member of the chess family after earlier using him when it suited the federation.
Phiri said in an interview yesterday that by being CFZ president, Mukabe should know the officials in the affiliate bodies instead of allegedly hiding behind affiliation fees.
He said in July this year, Mukabe never queried about affiliation fees when he engaged all the zones including Zone Three over the FIDE presidential elections pitting Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Garry Kasparov.
Phiri said the zones voted for Ilyumzhinov and that Mukabe never questioned whether Zone Three was in arrears.
He charged that the only issue which could have raffled the feathers of some CFZ bigwigs was when he (Phiri) spoke about alleged financial irregularities.
Phiri said his aim was to bring sanity into CFZ and alleged that Mukabe had failed to run the affairs of the federation.
Phiri said those in doubt about Zone Three’s status should ask CFZ secretary Ntemena Bwalya.
However, Bwalya could not be reached by Press time as his mobile phone was off.
Earlier, Mukabe disowned Phiri, who had issued a statement on behalf of CFZ where he questioned SCZ’s capability of disciplining any of the officials found wanting in audit queries.