By SHAMAOMA MUSONDA –
GOVERNMENT has warned the reprieved Zambia Volleyball Association (ZAVA) executive over their careless financial management and asked the committee to improve.
Sports Minister, Chishimba Kambwili sounded the warning after he lifted the five-year ban slapped on the Gabriel Muyinda led ZAVA executive by the Sports Council of Zambia (SCZ) late last year .
Muyinda, who confirmed the development, said Kambwili’s warning was genuine and that his executive would take steps to make sure their handled their financial matters not just better but also well.
ZAVA was hit with an excessive five-year ban by the SCZ legal and disciplinary committee after they issued a cheque of K24,000 to the Kalingalinga Youth Resource Centre which bounced.
The payment was for food consumed during the Zone Six national championships in Lusaka last year.
“The minister has written to us about lifting of the ban but he has warned us sternly about our financial management. It is a very genuine warning because it was not in order that we should bounce a cheque.
“We are happy the ban has been lifted but it not like we issued the cheque knowing that it would bounce, there was a combination of bad luck that led to it bouncing but we shall next time work towards improving our financial handling,” Muyinda said.
The ban announced by the Emmanuel Katebe led disciplinary committee led to ‘bad blood’ between ZAVA and SCZ which led to the former stating that the sub-committee did not have the power to suspend an elected executive.
Some other sections of the media quoted ZAVA as stating that there was incompetence exhibited by SCZ before the association appealed to the minister against the ban.
ZAVA claimed the cheque bounced because a SCZ cheque, where they were relying on took unnecessarily long to clear and resulting in their cheque to Kalingalinga Youth Resource Centre being dishonoured.
Muyinda said now that matter was ‘water under the bridge’ and that the relationship between ZAVA and SCZ was just as good as it was before.
He said the national volleyball team had already started training from SCZ’s National Sports Development Centrein Lusaka for next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
The national volleyball team is currently preparing for the final stage of the 2014 Poland World Cup qualifier to be staged in Kenya next month.
“We have actually applied to the Sports Council for financial assistance to enable us send a team to Kenya. These are important qualifiers and we have a budget of about K202,000. We are confident that SCZ will help us as before,” he said.
Muyinda said ZAVA was hoping to send a team of 12 players and four officials, namely the coach, his assistant a team manager and a delegation leader.
He expressed confidence in the coaching staff and players, saying they could do the job in Nairobi from February 5 to 11.
And Muyinda defended the decision to drop Elton Thawe, saying his executive was looking for certain qualities in a national coach.
He said Thawe would be considered in future engagements.
“Thawe is a young coach and he needs a few more things which include maturity, experience, leadership and managerial qualities. Otherwise we have him in our plans, we are the ones who gave him a chance before and we shall continue grooming him,” he said.
