Ministry of Youth and Sports Principal Secretary (PS) Oliver Kumbambe says Bingu National Stadium (BNS) needs about K50 million to meet the requirements set by CAF to host Flames’ 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
The PS said this when he, alongside officials from his ministry, Malawi National Council of Sports and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Social and Community Affairs in Lilongwe on Monday on the maintenance of the facility.
“We need about K50 million to ensure all the issues they [CAF] raised are addressed so that the facility can be ready next month,” said Kumbambe.
He told the committee that one of the reasons the facility failed to meet the Confederation of African Football (CAF) requirements was because for a long time, it was used as a Covid-19 isolation centre; hence, it was closed to the public and maintenance works were halted.
Kumbambe, therefore, said the assertion that government neglected BNS is not true.
He said among others, the stadium lacks a players’ tunnel, team benches, clean and decent dressing rooms and clean sanitary facilities.
Kumbambe also said BNS owes service providers, including Escom, K137 million.
Kumbambe said BNS owes Escom alone K62 million. Other debtors include Omega Security (K45 million), Mchepa Landscape (K16.3 million), Kaunda Landscape (K13 million).
“In relation to the debt, we are working with Treasury to allow BNS management retain a substantial revenue raised to pay bills and do maintenance work,” the PS said.
Chairperson of the committee Savel Kafwafwa has committed to go full throttle in mobilising the K50 million needed to ensure that the facility should pass the CAF test by October and be able to host the other World Cup qualifiers.
He said: “If we are to be honest, government will not be able to release K50 million within such a [short] period. But what we will do as Parliament is to lobby companies, including banks and other organisations, to come in and contribute.
“We will take it as a priority to have a special team within our committee to raise the K50 million. It is shameful for a national team to play its home matches in another country.”
Kafwafwa also acknowledged that CAF had valid reasons to ban BNS. He exonerated Ministry of Youth and Sports and FAM from the blame, saying BNS was used as an isolation centre and, therefore, it was not possible to carry out maintenance work.
On inadequate funding, Kafwafwa pledged to lobby Parliament during Mid-Year Budget Review to increase the sports budget, especially for BNS.
“We will make sure that BNS gets the K15 million for monthly operations instead of the current K3 million,” he said.
FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda described the meeting with the parliamentary committee as cordial and beneficial.
He said: “What we have appreciated is that they now understand the issues at hand in relation to management of BNS. We have agreed to work collectively to see how best we can look after this facility. The required cost to maintain this infrastructure comes at a cost. This is a government facility and government must invest in it.
