• FAZ president Kalusha Bwalya (right) with committee member Pivoty Simwanza.

By FELIX MALUNGA –

THE Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) has dispelled assertions from some quarters that it wants to manipulate the constitution to make Kalusha Bwalya life president.
FAZ has instead advised those who meet the qualification criterion to challenge Kalusha at next year’s elections, while reiterating the need to protect the association from being invaded by outsiders.
Committee member Pivoty Simwanza said the FAZ executive had never proposed that Kalusha should be installed as life president neither had any affiliate written to the association over the same subject.
Simwanza said in an interview in Ndola yesterday that the FAZ executive was surprised with the motive behind the talk of making Kalusha life president.
“No one has proposed Kalu as FAZ life president. We are surprised where this is coming from. Not even a single club has ever proposed or even hinted to Football House about the issue of life president,” he said.
Simwanza said in accordance with its constitution, FAZ holds elections every four years and that the trend would continue because there were no short-cuts in the association.
He said people should not misinterpret Nchanga Rangers’ proposal for an amendment to the statutes which intends to restrict people vying for the FAZ presidency and vice-president.
Rangers are proposing that only those football administrators who have served in the FAZ executive before should be eligible to contest the top two positions.
Simwanza said the FAZ council convening this weekend in Kabwe would deliberate over the Rangers’ proposal which intends to protect the association from ‘foreign’ invasion.
On Rangers’ other proposal for the introduction of nomination fees for candidates aspiring for various FAZ positions, Simwanza said it had become too costly for the association to hold the quadrennial elections, hence the need for the aspirants to pay.
Simwanza said the elections were always conducted by the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) and that FAZ parts away with a lot of money to ensure all logistics were in place for a credible poll.
The FAZ official also said some of the people, who were attacking the association, were not members of the Zambian football family and that Football House does not deal with outsiders.
Simwanza said the football fraternity needed to know that statutes governing the sport were changing globally, starting from the soccer world motherbody, FIFA and continental authorities, CAF.