The Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) says calls by soccer fans for its President Kalusha Bwalya to step down are unwarranted.
FAZ Communications Officer Eric Mwanza said this is because Kalusha is not responsible for handling player’s visas and other team logistics.
Mwanza told ZANIS sports in interview in Lusaka today, that the person responsible for handling the players visas was the association’s Secretary General George Kasengele, who should be questioned.
He said the association was also much aggrieved with the London outing as the soccer fans adding that and are currently working to correct the mistakes that were spotted in the team’s loss to Ghana.
He said FAZ is working hard to meet the expectation of soccer fans in the Country and such the organisation will not spare any effort to ensure the team perform well in the remaining fixtures.
Pressure has been mounting on Kalusha Bwalya and his subordinates to step down following the London outing from the soccer fans in the country.
ZANIS
He must go…Zambia’s football is not improving coz of people like Kalu. They have outlived their stay. He may have been a good footballer but I doubt his management style.
The mess and lack of professionalism exhibited by the FAZ in sending and incomplete team to London is inexcusable.
The entire FAZ Executive has to GO as they are there not in the interest of football but for personal benefit.
The government should to write to FIFA on this issue as the FAZ Executive has no morals to resign on their own.
Its a shame to have those jokers running football affairs.
Ha ha ha! They are beginning to turn on each other. Zanis, please track down Kasengele and get his side of the story, especially as his colleague baEric has put him in the firing line.
Kalu was a great player and i think is a good person too,BUT HE is VERY VERY MUCH HANDICAPPED in LEADERSHIP and MANAGERIAL SKILLS.
HE has very good opportunities of making it in LIFE both in Zambia and at International level BUT those TWO factors HIGHLIGHTED above will make HIM TUMBLE.
“….to step down following the London outing by the soccer fans in the country” LT Please…Ichisungu..bushe ma soccer fans baile ku London nagu ma players ?
Zambia has not made any stride in football circles for over a decade now and the reason for this is not kalu’s leadership.So please dont single out Kalu as an attribute to the failures of the zambian national team….Just leave him alone for crying out loud!
Let us accept the simple fact that administering soccer and playing soccer are two different things. Kalu was a good player but this does not make him a good administrator.
1. At the time the team was preparing for the London trip, Kalu was busy with wedding preps.
2. You cannot run FAZ affairs on remote from JHBG ( Who pays for communication expenses,is it not FAZ?)
If Kalu has passion for ZED football let him step aside.
Chi 7 Pungwa/ Pungwe you are just jealous. What is the link between FAZ affairs and Kalusha’s wedding? That is why we are where we are in Zed. We lack analytical thinking.
Whatever! We’re now used to all this waste of space…
When the team was busy preparing for the disastrous London outing, Kalusha, Kasengele and Munaile where wining and dining and Joburg after Kalu’s wedding..These chas are *****s and should immediately be booted out if we shall have any chance of saving our football..
Kalu is just a money sucker..thats all is interested in..
Kalu is an opportunist! I say this devoid of jealous and whether it is two weeks or years, Zambians will agree and chuck him out of FAZ. You know the it takes long for the Zambian brain to process info and decide, same for Rupiah, he might rule another term because of the Zambian Brain. “Iam talking about absolute DOCILITY”. I like Kalu and am sure many other Zambians do, it’s just that we cannot continue like this,” Poor quality political and general administrators, poor economy, poor football, poor education, poor people …………………. hey.
Allow me to state my disappointment with Eric Mwanza as FAZ Communications Officer. In every organization the head bears the results of every deliberations. If the results are good the head shoulders the glory. He cannot grant the glory to his subordinates. This works in retrospect. As the head you do not pass the buck. You bear every consequence upon your self. So, in the FAZ- London saga Kalusha is to bear the blame whether it was done by him or somebody else. He loses nothing by apologizing. That is leadership that serves people. Leadership that is self centered looks for someone to blame. Eric is patronizing Kalusha, and is a pundist. He is showing us that he does not understand management, or he lacks acumen for the job hence a novice. Kalusha as well is stubborn & cannot accept blame
kalusha is simply making a living ,let him GO before its too late.he thinks when played soccer in europe he can handle football admin please GO wasting tax payeyers money
Eric you need to come out clean as Communications Officer. You have disappointed the learned. How can you state blame on somebody else as a sacrificial lamb? In any case you were to apologize on behalf of FAZ to the public. Remember that all of officials at FAZ are not indispensable. You are there to serve and accept responsibility. It seems you are playing to the gallery. I am advising Kalusha to come down from his horse and take responsibility and apologize. Our Bemba adage says, “Uku poka Ichinsenda ku nkoko kuna kilila.” Humble yourselves guys then you will be exalted in due time. That is the right thing. Kalusha never focus on your title as sacred without blemish. It is just one name of a servant. Meaning one serving the lovers of soccer in our mother-land. You`re not the boss.
Please, let us not call for Kalusha`s resignation. He needs to learn how to manage. He has never done it nor has he been to school for it. This is the beginning of him learning how it is to be a CEO. He is a novice in the matters of governance. Let us give him a second chance. I believe this has awaken him. He must now know that all the blame will be on him. And all the glory the boys bring will be shouldered by him. He knows what happens in Europe to coaches and managers whose teams do perform well and otherwise. Kalusha, my advice to you is to learn quickly from this experience. Never entertain people like Eric who do not understand their roles. Eric was supposed to cover you by saying “”we are making things right. Or even apologize on behalf of FAZ. Do some basic management course…
I have always respected Kau as a great (or is it former) footballer but he never struck me to be an administrator. For crying out loud he is running FAZ from Johannesburg, South Africa!!! I get to see more of him on Supersport analysing Premier League football games (which apparently he is good at) than hear of him sorting issues at FAZ IN LUSAKA!! What a waste!
Kalu is the president of the that association that is failing the nation, so internal organisation is up to him and when things go wrong he is responsible for his subordinates’ actions. I mean the man is charge.Let him find job in RSA. In my opinion he can improve more in that field of commentary than management of infant Zambian football. Let step down before it is too late. He is not an egg so let him absorb the shocks.
Number 17, you have made a very good point there!!!! I also believe that Kalu can do more in the field of commentary, which by the way also needs a lot of attention in this country (those ZNBC boys who do the commentaries need training). Perhaps we really need a real administrator running FAZ, one who will ensure that all things are being run in a professional way. As for him running FAZ from Joburg, that is very true and I think this is the same thing that we are saying about our MPs who run their constituencies by remote control, from lusaka. Things cannot simply be done like that!!!!!!! Kalu, needs to listen for once to the cries of the fans because I know that he is also very passionate about Zambian soccer.
Zambia is a JOKE. No need to blame Kalu. It’s a Zambian thing to do things at last minute. Shame.
It is very unfair to blame Kalu when we have people who were responsible for the arrangements. Firstly we have the media officer, the team manager and the General scretary. These are the people who kept assuring the national and King Kalu that all was on course. He(Kalu) was busy with his wedding(which is not worng).
FYI: FAZ president is just a ceremonial position it’s not a fulltime job. So if Kalu is in Joburg that’s his business. Besides in his absence we have the FAZ VEEP Hon. Munaile. lets be realistic! Can you stop the president from attending a UN meeting of to chair peace talks?
#19 & 20, well spoken! Zambians are well experienced in finger pointing, thats a major problem we have! if you go to the grassroots you will find that the problem is not even with Kalu! let him enjoy his honeymoon in peace.
Gents, Gents. You are the same same pipo who were supporting the uneducated, no adminsitrative history on his CV ,kalu, on this very forum. You were shooting down the experienced Anif adams. Great kalu for faz…. Great kalu.. fyonono ..fyonono.. the cries went.
Now you see. When are Zambians going to see that these days even for a servents position it is desirable to have a grade 12 cerificate. But you shallow chaps support the uneducate to high office. This kalu is a fontine, egomainiac who has never run not even a youth team. And you support him for CEO of FAZ. You should be ashemed of your selves.
I can only hope FAZ and Kalu & Company have learned a valuable lesson from this. But to ask KALU to resign at this time makes no sense. If he resigns then what? Bring in another person with a different mind set and management style at this crucial stage in the qualifiers? Will that turn the teams fortunes around? I DOUBT IT!!
Just let Kalusha fix what is broken at FAZ and we all can move forward. My advice, stop being an absentee administrator so much. FAZ and CHIPOLOPOLO troubles demands your close attention!!! Ba KALU, not everyone out here is gunning for your head, but you should realise that Zambians have been patient for far too long—-THEY NOW WANT GOOD RESULTS—-it doesn’t matter who is in charge!!!
How do u have a President of FAZ who is nonresident. Some have told us that the position is just ceremonial. How?????? educate me. This man has big programmes in his head at the international picture and he holds to FAZ presidency to jet him off. We understand his exposure but he should give us a break.
This is not the right part of your paper to put this but pls help.The solwezi chingola road is in real bad shape.the gvt has to do something about this as a matter of urgence. people are dying on this road so often.concerned citizen thanks.
#22 KC: Sound to me like a case of sour grapes on your part!!! Did Kalu defeat you in the FAZ elections??? And who exactly do you have in mind to run such an entity like FAZ??
Look, there are plenty of people with very little education who have turned out to be very good managers/administrators. For starters, most Zambian women/mothers have very little or no education at all, and yet they have run family affairs and households which, I would argue, have more complex dynamics than some of these organizations. And they have done this, in most cases, on very limited budgets (off target but true). So my friend, education isn’t everything!!
AND WHAT KIND OF MANAGEMENT SKILLS CAN YOU GET AT GRADE TWELVE??? College, maybe
LT, ______”soure grapes” is now a dirty word/expression?? WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has anyone on this blog ever eaten or tasted some fruits called GR@PES??? I am getting in trouble with LT using this word!!!!!!!!!
ERIC MWANZA has no powers on FAZ matters such as the sacking of the President. This is a prerogative of the FAZ NATIONAL CONCIL. A member ie a club or an association can call for an emergency meeting at which such a motion can be debated and implemented.
It is evident that Kalu lacks management skills. To me, he appears to value himself to far above his surbodinates as such, they feel they cannot work for him but only stay on to earn the bread. The entire FAZ executive must go and I believe, it is this same shambles that made Hanif Adams to resign as NSCZ chairman. Medicrity can swallow all the past good work you have done and I think Hanif is clever enough to see through this mess in Kalu management style.
Kalu is using Faz prez to boost his cv for caf prez unfortunately such things dont look on your cv sir, so do us a favoure you have failed us as much as we have failed you. Time to change. come on fellows Zambians for once lets get our S**t together and do something worth writing about.
There we go again with people calling a Kalu`s head. It was the same with Teddy Mulonga. All you calling for Kalu to go are dim. Sometimes you wonder whether people on here are learned or not. Fire Kalu and then what? And, what for? In african mind the president is boss over everything. Africans will never stop amusing. No wonder they (presidents) s t e a l!
Please let us show kalu and his mufulira job seckers the door , we have not forgotten that kalu has made several mistakes in the past including missing a very important penalty,it was only then that he decided to hang his boots ,this man is after money hence busy marrying whites
he has no time to work on programmes of improving soccer in this country ,he cannot even help his former club mufulira wanderers come out of the problems ,please let others runfootball in this country , mayuka saga ,mbesuma saga, its all about money issues sorounding man and his stabonness of refusing to appear before national sports council displinary committee ‘ ‘abash”.
Zambians this is not the way to solve issues.
just keep cool. FAZ has promised to work hard adn they will do they work. Appreciate and learn from somthing. you never get things right all the way.
chance from Angola.
Looks good selection for the team. wishing all the players success for the up coming game.
# 26 Yambayamba, Just because some one is a house wife dosent make them good mangers. That is why we have a thing called a CV. Do you think all organisations who ask for a CV the world over are fools ??. The other person to be placed in a position of resposibility with out checking his CV was FJT. We know what happened. Only Africans empoly pipo to important places of office who have no or limited education. We all know which is the poorest continent yet potentially the richest and we wonder why when we chaps like you saying even an uneducated hosewife can run any organisation. Yaba.
#36 kc you spot on. See in the hands of white people Northern Rhodesia(ZAMBIA) was NOT among the worlds poorest countries.
#12 Watts K is spot on.
In organisations, the buck stops at the head, eg CEO.
The head is there to make sure that the whole body is doing the right thing. In this case Kalulusha shoulders the whole responsibility. As head, he alone is best positioned to see everything. he is overseer. Not his subordinates. If he is incompetent at being overseer, he must step down so that someone else more capable can run FAZ.
We love Kalulu and appreciate his great contribution to Zambia. He was the best. But he may not be the best at admin or coaching. Let us have the best for Zambia in every role.
#36 KC
Yesterday on bbc website there was an article “Why is Africa Poor”. The journalist went to several African countries and interviewed the locals.
In the words of Africans themselves “Africa is not poor. It is only poorly managed”.
Many of us will agree with this.
YES WE LOST TO GHANA AND THE OUTING WAS NOT GOOD.BUT..BUT WHY ATTACK KALU.FAZ PRESIDENCY IS NOT FULL TIME.HE MADE ARRANGEMEMENTS AND IT WAS UP TO THE SECRETARIATE TO DO THE JOB.HE IS NOT THE SECRETARIATE..GUYS.FOOTBALL ADMIN IS NOT ABOUT THE CHAIRMAN.KALU IS ACTUALLY SAVING MONEY FOR FAZ BY NOT BEING AROUND..HOTEL BILLS,THIS AND THAT EXPENSE…SO YOU GUYS LEAVE ABROAD AND KNOW HOW SOCCER IS RUN.PRESIDENT IS A TITLE…FIGURE HEAD SO THAT YOU GET NOTICED.KALU IS A FIGURE HEAD,THATS WHY WE GOT THE GHAN FRIENDLY…APPRIECIATE..
#36, kc: my point is this, with your emphasis on education as a barometer for leadership is not necessarily true!! I can give you a mile long list of people who are not so educated and yet have run/founded multinational corporations. Of course education is vital, but a grade 12 cert? Come on man!!! And where do you get these people within Zambia with CVs to match? I would rather go for EXPERIENCE over just a bunch of degrees/certs. And on that score, Kalu fits just fine given his experiences with other football associations around the world. Unless you are for the idea of engaging a foreigner, whom the country/FAZ can’t afford, even for a second, you can keep dreaming. By the way, IF A GRADE 12 FAILS, ARE WE GOING TO ASK FOR A COLLEGE DEGREE NEXT?!!
#39, UK-Zed Observer : I completely agree with you!!! But who has really mismanaged Africa’s affairs?! Uneducated poor Africans, or people you seem to have faith in, THE PRIVILEGED AFRICANS & AFRICAS EDUCATED ELITES?? In fact, most former and present Presidents were/are quite educated by African standards. I have even lost count on many Zambian ministers/MPs with “Dr.” in front of their names or “PhD” after it, and yet the Zambian govt does seem to run any better than when KK & Company (people with far less education) ran the damn thing (govt)!!!! By the way, do you know how degrees ROBERT MUGABE have?! Well, Several!! But look at Zimbabwe today. Please folks, let us stop perpetuating this false notion that “EDUCATION/DEGREES/CERTS = GOOD LEADERSHIP,” Not true, I am sorry to say.
meant to say: “…… doesn’t seem to run any better……..” in posting #42
# 43 Yambayamba,,: Its not about having faith in African educated privaleged elites. we live in a global economy unfortunatly for your reasoning . You see runing a bussness you dont need ethics and norms of civilisation that are thought at school. In fact some may argue that the less ethically minded and ruthless you are in bussiness, the more u make it, as corruption and bribary are common. Runing a country or a govermental department, you need a lot of ehtics and you can not apply the jungle wars of the bussiness world in Goverment. Tell me of a uneducated president or minister in Africa who can be a role modle ? Comming to Kalu, what administration has he run before FAZ ? he is just a TV pundit in RSA and you zambians call him an absent FAZ president..