By Chisomo Phiri
Former president of the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and current Confederation African Football (CAF) executive committee member, Walter Nyamilandu,has announced his candidacy for the Nsanje South West Constituency in the upcoming September 16 general elections on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ticket.
According to a message posted on DPP’s Facebook page,the former FAM President met with Nsanje’s traditional leaders on Friday to formally introduce himself to the community.
Nyamilandu holds Masters of Business Administration from the University of Reading Berkshire in United Kingdom(UK ).
He was FAM president for 19 years.
Nyamilandu claimed victory in the 2004, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 FAM general elections.
He assured Malawi’s return to the African Cup of Nations continental tournament twice during his tenure as president.
Before taking up his role, Malawi had struggled to qualify for over 20 years.
Nyamilandu became the first Malawian in history and one of a few Africans to be elected onto the prestigious world football governing body, FIFA as an Executive Council member.
He beat the president of the South African Football Association in a series of voting rounds to attain the council seat.
He repeated history when he was voted into the continental sports governing body, CAF, in 2023.
At the FAM elective general conference held in Mzuzu on 16 December 2023,Nyamilandu lost the Presidency of the Association to former Super League of Malawi(SULOM ) President Fleetwood Haiya marking the end of a 19-year era.
