FAM says Romanian coach hotel accommodation cheaper
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has refuted that they are spending more money on paying for accommodation for Romanian Marian Mario Marinica at Amaryllis Hotel in Blantyre as reported in the media.
Instead, FAM has said through a special arrangement with the hostel, they are in fact saving, not as reported by a news article in they have spent K17 million since his arrival in October last year.
He said: “The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) would like to refute media reports that the Association is being extravagant by spending a lot of Money on national team coach, Mr. Mario Marinica’s accommodation at Amaryllis Hotel as reported by Malawi News of 9th April 2022.
“The article claims that FAM has spent over MK17 million for the coach to stay at the hotel. The figure reported is an exaggeration which has portrayed FAM as being extravagant and wasteful.
The truth of the matter is that since his arrival in the country in November 2021, Mr. Marinica has been staying at Hotel Amaryllis.
“Initially, this was supposed to be a temporally arrangement for a month as he was finalising his employment and work permit documentation. Marinica had to accompany the Flames to Saudi Arabia for pre-Afcon camping in December and Cameroun for the Afcon in January. The Flames left Malawi on 23rd December 2021 and returned on 28th January 2022. Upon return from Afcon, Marinica was supposed to be provided with accommodation within Blantyre as provided in his employment contract.”
The statement says as FAM was in the process of identifying the house, Amaryllis Hotel offered special ‘long-stay package’ which effectively addressed the accommodation needs the coach and was also found to be cost effective for FAM.
Amaryllis also offered FAM a special rate of K900,000 per month, including all services apart from meals (lunch and dinner).
“The public may wish to appreciate that the rentals for fully furnished houses being offered were in the ranges of K900,000 – K1.2 million per month. Apart from the monthly rentals, FAM was expected to bear the following expenses: “24 – hour security services with alarms costing between K600,000 – K1 million, DStv services – MK90,000, Internet Wifi – MK60,000, generator and fuel running costs – MK100,000, utilities and domestic workers – K300,000.”
“This would cost the association not less than MK2.4 million per month. The MK900,000 special package from Amaryllis Hotel covers all these expenses which has helped FAM make significant savings of MK1.5 million per month thus amounting to MK7.5 million for the five months the Coach has stayed in the country. We would like therefore to assure all our stakeholders and the public that FAM shall continue to exercise care, due diligence, and prudence in management of its resources at all times.”
In an interview, FAM commercial and marketing director said they were paying former Flames coach Meck Mwase 24-hour security at K650,000 without alarms. Mwase, who qualified for the Flames for the third Afcon finals, was fired following FAM executive committee meeting on Saturday.
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