BY BENJAMIN MAONA:
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) will use a website-based ticketing system in Sunday’s Airtel Top 8 final between Blue Eagles and Nyasa Big Bullets at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Fam Marketing and Commercial Director, Limbani Matola, Thursday confirmed that the association has partnered with National Integrated Technologies Limited (Nitel), formerly Malswich, as one way of curbing gate ticket fraud.
“We have finished distributing tickets to all outlets.
The tickets have special security marks like holograms and barcodes. The tickets will be taken to the stadium where at the gates Nitel officers will verify electronically before entry.
The process will take place less than 30 seconds and is faster. The idea is to avoid hard cash. This also means that no one will enter without tickets,” Matola said.
A fortnight ago, K4.7 million went missing during the Airtel semi-final between Be Forward Wanderers and Bullets, with money realised not tallying with the tickets that were sold.
Fam told The Nation newspaper Thursday that it had suspended the involvement of banks in the handling of the cash while waiting for a long-lasting solution to the deeply entrenched fraud.
On Sunday, tickets for open stand spectators are pegged at K2,000, K6,000 for the covered stands and corporate box spectators will pay K50, 000 for five members.
Eagles General Secretary, Ulemu Kaluwa, has since welcomed the new ticketing system.
“After going through an orientation conducted by Nitel officials, we are fine with the system. It is a system that allows us stakeholders to access the website and follow the sales when the process is taking place. We feel that this is the way to go for our game. With this system, there can be no cases of fraud,” Kaluwa said.
Bullets Chief Executive Officer, Fleetwood Haiya, could not be reached for a comment.
Some K15 million is at stake for champions while runners-up will pocket K7.5 million.
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