COMPLAINT AGAINST BASMAL OVER BREACHES OF THE CONSTITUTION. I am writing on behalf of Mimbulu Basketball club, a registered affiliate of the Basketball Association of Malawi (BASMAL) and on behalf of other affiliates. We have observed a number of serious constitutional breaches by the current executive which have gone without buy in of the general basketball family. A number of emails and approaches have been lodged with both Central Zone Basketball League (CEZOBAL) executive as our immediate family head as well as with the President of BASMAL himself, Mr. Raymond Banda. Find attached an email to Mr. Banda on Jun 19 in which I specifically asked for election calendar dates at both zone and national level. I also asked him to explain to me what channel was in place to allow affiliates to propose amendments to the constitution and its eventual amendments being applied. This was bearing in mind that the constitution of BASMAL was put in place in the mid 1980’s and has a lot of areas that are lacking. As can be seen from the communication, Mr. Banda never replied or bothered to explain the position of BASMAL elections when it was made clear to him that BASMAL elections had to take place in August 2013 as per the BASMAL constitution. Find an email also sent to Mr. Khama Mphepo, newly elected Chairman for CEZOBAL. The email is dated Jul 25 3013. In my response to his email, I specifically mentioned that there is a calculated move to “rape” the constitution at BASMAL level and as an affiliate of BASMAL, I asked my Chair to follow with BASMAL. He also never came back with an answer. A number of emails and calls have followed with the chair and no proper feedback has been provided. What is very strange is a document that has been circulated on November 26 by CEZOBAL which is titled “Basketball Association Of Malawi (BASMAL) Annual General Meeting Held On 29th September 2012 at Malawi National Council of Sports Boardroom.” The document is also attached. Please note the following: 1. The said meeting was a management meeting and not an Annual General Meeting as it is proclaimed. Therefore, any resolutions made should not be treated as AGM ratifications. 2. This meeting went ahead and committed a very serious constitution crime of amending the “term of office” from two years to four when the members present were fully aware that they had no such powers to tamper with the constitution. 3. The said meeting was convened by people with vested interests towards the constitutional change and “immediately benefitted” with their extended stay in office without the blessings of affiliates.

Find attached our constitution. Special attention is required on the following articles in our constitution which have seriously been breached by the current BASMAL committee. -

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Article 5 states that members of BASMAL shall respect the constitution; by convening a meeting outside an AGM, the current BASMAL executive defied the constitution wholesale. Article 7 defines General Assembly of BASMAL, explains clearly who has to be there at an AGM meeting and what powers this meeting has which includes amending the constitution; current BASMAL executives defied this constitutional provision by making changes by themselves. Article 9 clearly states that powers to amend the constitution lies with the General Assembly and not a management meeting; BASMAL used a management meeting to change office terms which defies this provision. Article 10 explains the frequency and timing of the General Assembly, this is a yearly meeting and its agenda, venue and time must be communicated to affiliates 30 days before the date. The said meeting of September 29 2012 was called without respects towards article 10 of our constitution. Article 11 empowers the General Assembly to amend the constitution through a vote. The BASMAL meeting amended the constitution without any procedure as explained in the constitution or even a vote taken to address such a sensitive matter. Article Formation of a quorum is half of Basmal: which is almost affiliates Article 13 states that the term of office is 2 years. This requirement was only applied to CEZOBAL where elections took place in June and no elections were conducted in NOZOBAL, SOZOBAL and BASMAL and yet they all fell under the same constitution. Why the selection in respecting this article? Article 15. National Council of sports may dissolve BASMAL and appoint a caretaker committee to oversee transition. Article 16 spells out the terms of reference for the national executive, none in there mention that they can amend the constitution and yet on September 2012, BASMAL took upon itself to amend the constitution. Article 21 was observe exclusively to CEZOBAL, elections took place where a new committee was elected and the same did not happen for SOZOBAL, NOZOBAL and BASMAL yet they are both from the same constitution Article 23: Elections procedure is explained with the timing of the BASMAL elections, which is two years, as per the standing constitution. Elections are conducted in CEZOBAL and none anywhere else.

The above demonstrates serious problems with our current executives in failing to respect the constitution and protect the interests of affiliates who voted them into power.

I am writing to request National Council to invoke Article 15 of our constitution, dissolve BASMAL and appoint a care taker committee to over a transition and election of a new committee as well as amendment of the constitution as appropriate through an Annual General Meeting. The future of our game lies in limbo and a change of the BASMAL executive is the only way to clear this mess and put our house in order.

Daud Suleman. Mimbulu Basketball Team Central Zone Basketball League