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CHIUMIA FOR SPORTS ADEQUATE FUNDING

Chiumia: It is necessary to encourage greater financial support
Chiumia: It is necessary to encourage
greater financial support

Malawi’s new Sports Minister Grace Chiumia has said her ministry has a lot of activities, but faces many problems because of inadequate resources. She has since said her first task is to lobby government for more resources.

Chiumia said this on Thursday in an exclusive interview with Weekend Nation on her plans for the ministry.

She decried that previous governments did not give the ministry the recognition it deserves in terms of funding, a development that has contributed to negative outcome in performance.

“When the Flames perform badly the whole nation is affected and there is blame game, but how can we expect the team to do well when we did not allocate resources for it to prepare well. The same applies for netball and all the Olympic sports. We expect great results yet we did not allocate proper resources,” said Chiumia.

She added that her vision for uplifting sports prioritises funding and sponsorships at all levels.

“The relative high costs associated with financing sports programmes such as training, camping and competitions continue to hinder football development. Therefore, it is necessary to encourage greater financial support for sporting activities,” said Chiumia.

“I am very concerned with the performance of the Malawi football team. It does not mean that the players are incompetent. The truth of the matter is that they lack resources. What I have learnt so far is that the team does not have permanent players. They only train when there is an upcoming game. They do not have intensive training because of inadequate resources,” she said.

The minister has since vowed to work tirelessly with her officials to raise funds to promote sports in the country. She said she will encourage businesspersons and well-wishers to contribute towards the cause.

“We will work towards convincing the corporate world to invest in football so that our players should take football as employment,” said Chiumia.

She said she knows that those in netball and women football have a lot of expectations from her appointment.

“The Malawi Queens have given us pride by being fifth in the world and first in Africa. We will continue to support them, but we need to start on the ground. Development of technical personnel is vital for the promotion of sports in this country,” said Chiumia.

She said she will work with the director of sports and Sports Council to institute cohesive training courses for coaches to develop competences to improve skills that support athletic development

Chiumia said she will make women football the second most played sport in the country.

“The first step is to ensure that women are not discriminated against or labelled as of loose morals because they are playing football. The President has shown personal interest in this sport and as a ministry we will compliment his efforts,” she said.

Chiumia said she counts on the support of all sports associations for her to achieve her goals.

She, however, said for the country to achieve long-term success in sports there is need for investment in infrastructure.

“We have some good sports structures which have not been maintained and some of them have been vandalised because they are not secured. I will continue the development, management and maintenance of sporting infrastructure so that we are able to attract international games. I will also encourage communities to be involved in our sports initiatives,” said Chiumia.

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