GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN SPORTS (AT MAITE)

 

By Percy Mwale

 

Corporate governance is the system of rules, practices, and processes by which a club is directed and controlled. It essentially involves balancing the interests of a club's many stakeholders such as sponsors, board members, management, coaches and players, fans, local civic leaders and the general community. As such, corporate governance encompasses practically, every sphere of management, from action plans and internal controls to performance measurement which includes winning silverware.

 

'Mighty' Mufulira Wanderers FC has been around since 1953 and has evolved in different ways. From the well funded and organised ZCCM days through the harsh economic turbulent to the current International Resource Holding (IRH) controlled Mopani Copper Mines Plc. The club has surely been a trendsetter on the pitch by producing arguably, the cream of Zambia's finest footballers with Kalusha Bwalya aka The Great Kalu aka KB11 topping it all with the 1988 Africa Footballer of the Year accolade. 

 

Unfortunately, the club has lagged behind in its off-pitch activities. It has failed to quickly adapt and adopt some of the key and modern practices in its pursuit to adequately conform.

 

I will be failing in my discourse if I fail to acknowledge the fact that the club has at least improved on the quality of contracts offered to players including its pay structure. It is currently among the best paying clubs in Zambia.

 

Management-wise, the structure has been improving fusing in more people to help run the club. This has led the club to having a full time CEO, accounts and media personnel.

 

As I write this, the club is running an advert to hire a CEO and this is very commendable. Suffice to say that both head-hunting and advertising are globally acceptable modes of hiring for as long as the hiring party knows who they want and for what functions.

 

Constituting an organisation structure must be top to bottom. Meaning, the highest body is constituted first then it constitutes its lower organ until all structures are filled up. In this case, the sponsors identify suitable board members who in turn recruit the CEO. The CEO in consultation with the board hires his management team. These people collaborate to hire a technical bench or just a coach who then is given the leeway to constitute his backroom staff. It is this team that identifies players that fit the desired playing style and recruits them.

 

A separation in functions must also be re-emphasised and no one expects board members to involve themselves in the day to day running of the club and that reporting structures are respected.

 

What are my talking points at the point we are at?

 

The mandate of the current board expires in a few weeks time. Why didn’t IRH/Mopani quickly move in to dissolve the current board and appoint a new one? Or why didn’t the board members themselves declare interest and dissolve themselves? This move would have helped the new board to settle down and create systems and structures which they think can help them in the 2024/25 soccer season and beyond.

 

In the current set-up, the coach has been hired in the absence of a CEO. The outgoing board is hiring a CEO who most likely, will be inherited by a new board. This scenario is kind of imposing as structures are being hired by people who will not supervise them. This is a recipe for confusion and failure as certain officers might end up giving allegiance and loyalty to people that may no longer be in the system. The immediate past CEO should have been allowed to continue in office for a short time to help evaluate the past season and help plan for the next one. And to also properly hand-over to the new CEO. The current vacuum is not ideal as a lot of gaps are being created and simply force the new team CEO and his team to ‘start’ afresh. This teething period might just cause the team to struggle on the pitch.

 

In most cases, there is no wholesale change to most boards in Zambian football. A few faces are expected to continue while others will be nowhere near the club. If possible, let the current board receive the applications but leave the short-listing to the incoming board so that they hire a CEO that suits their vision.

 

With this in mind, I personally wish my team the very best to once again win local silverware and fly the national flag in CAF competitions!