By SANDRA MWILA –
FORMER Referees Association of Zambia (RAZ) president Welly Chikuka says the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ)’s resolution to pay officiating fees for lower divisions can only be sustained with a sponsor in place.
The FAZ executive committee that sat on Friday insisted that the association will be paying referees officiating fees for Division-One, Two and Three matches.
Chikuka said in an interview yesterday that the new FAZ executive should be given a chance.
He said the Andrew Kamanga-led executive committee is credible and was optimistic that they will manage to pay referees.
“It is a good move if they have found a sponsor to pay for referees, lets us give them a chance and see what they can do. I am confident that the Kamanga executive is credible and they will sustain this programme,” Chikuka said.
Chikuka said in the past, the former executive failed to sustain the paying of referee’s fees a situation that led to strikes and hopes the scenario does not re-occur.
He said the former executive committee at the annual general meeting held in Kitwe in March failed to justify the income for the payment of referees that led to the budget rejection.
“It will also be good if they give us full details on how they intend to sustain this programme because we don’t want to go back to the past scenario where referee’s were striking and abandoning games,” he said.
Former FAZ vice-president Emmanuel Munalie said paying of officiating fees for referees is a good move and will help unburden the costs on lower division teams.
Munalie said in a separate interview at the weekend that FAZ should ensure they fulfil their promise.
He said if a situation arises that FAZ experiences a problem and have no money to pay, they should dialogue to avoid strikes.
“That has been my prayer that payment of officiating fees should be done by FAZ because these small teams struggle. They have made a decision to take up the responsibility and they should ensure they fulfil it,” he said.