Associations cry foul over funding

Sports associations have accused Ministry of Sports and Culture of leaving them out in its revised budget presented by Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe on Tuesday.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) exhausted Malawi national team’s K100 million allocation last year yet the Flames have Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) fixtures and Cosafa Challenge Cup still assignments before the next government financial year which begins on July 1.

FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda said they need over K50 million to fulfill the fixtures.

Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) also said it has exhausted its budget and needs extra K15 million to organise competitions and send athletes to international competitions.

But the vote, which the ministry asked Parliament to revise from K5.9 billion to K7.1 billion, only considered Bingu National Stadium.

AAM president Godfrey Phiri said among other things, the association needs K6 million for a half marathon scheduled for April this year.

But Ministry of Sports spokesperson Christopher Mbukwa said they did not adjust the budget allocations for the sports associations because the reasons were not strong enough to win Parliamentary support. n