The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Chairperson of the Referees Committee, Patrick Kapanga, has acknowledged that Malawian referees take bribes from match officials before and after every match they are involved in.
He revealed this on Monday during the opening ceremony of a five-day FIFA Member Associations (MA) Elite Referees Course at Mpira Village.
In his welcoming remarks, Kapanga said FAM is very much aware that Referees take bribes by making calls to the team officials whenever they have been given assignments.
He quickly warned them to refrain from this malpractice, saying one day, they would be caught in the act and that would be the end of their careers.
“I cannot rule it out to say referees are not involved in corruption but this needs tangible and overwhelming evidence to find more information on this they know what I was saying that corruption is evil, it destroys our football so everywhere, nobody can deny that whenever something fishy is happening, people have eyes, they see. As a leader, I have to remind them that corruption has no room in our football because once caught in the act, that will be the end of them,” he said.
However, he was quick to applaud the match officials for what he described as a “job well done” in the first round of the TNM Super League and the FDH Bank Cup matches.
“Very much impressed. I have been an affiliate for 20 years and considering what has been happening previously, I can confidently say it has never happened in the history of our football. Technically, we have problems here and there but they have done well and that’s the reason why we are here to remind them to forge ahead but to say the truth, they are doing fine,” he explained.
The course, which is being facilitated by FIFA Instructors Ali Muhammad from Somalia and Mark Mzengo from Malawi, will see the referees undergoing technical, physical and Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
Mzengo described the training as important because Malawian referees will be on the same level as the rest of the referees in the world.
“Normally, we train all the referees in the world to be on the same level so if you leave a country without doing this course, it means that country is left behind and as we are taking through the training this week, we will make sure that Malawian referees are so well updated and trained to new concepts which FIFA and CAF have introduced,” he said.
On VAR training, the instructor said there is a requirement for all referees to know how to use VAR.
“There is a requirement that all referees, more especially at FIFA must be VAR compliant because referees who are not VAR compliant cannot be picked for international games. Malawi has taken a step ahead to make sure that referees in the country are trained for them to acquire the first step with the VAR and this course will run concurrently, more especially in the evening classes where we will make sure that all the referees are trained to the VAR,” he concluded.
FIFA Referee, Godfrey Nkhakananga and Pondamali Tembo are the only two referees to have attended a VAR training course in South Africa.
Nkhakananga, who once served a six-month ban for his role in the Airtel Top 8 Cup first quarterfinal leg between Silver Strikers and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers last season, said this training is an eye-opener to all Malawian referees.
“This course is of great importance for us as Malawian referees because we were lacking this opportunity. We have now been given a chance by COSAFA where it all started when we travelled to South Africa to attend this type of course. This body wants its members to also have this chance to impart VAR knowledge to its referees through member associations. As Malawi, we are going to benefit a lot,” he said.
He also revealed that there is a very big difference between normal refereeing and VAR refereeing because with human eyes, mistakes are inevitable but VAR comes in to fix the mistakes.
“Using VAR is very different from the normal refereeing. A referee can be well-equipped with the laws of the game, very fit but, not good enough because games can still end prematurely. With VAR, we know for sure that all the mistakes made by human eyes can be rectified by the machine so we need to know to use the VAR,” he explained.
Last year, team officials for FOMO FC, one official from Bangwe All Stars and one referee, Alfred Kaphamtengo were arrested by the police after they were accused of trying to bribe referee Kanjere when FOMO was facing Ntopwa FC in the final match of the Thumbs-Up Southern Region Football League where the winner was bound for a place in the TNM Super League.
The officials are currently on a police bail.
