Govt takes peace, unity campaign to the North

Government has taken its campaign of using football to promote unity and peace to the Northern Region.

On Monday, government-sponsored Super League side Civo United took on Nkhata Bay Select in a friendly match at Nkhata Bay Community Centre Ground where the presidential adviser on national unity Symon Vuwa-Kaunda was the guest of honour. Civo won the match 3-0.

“The campaign is working according to plan because today we had over 5 000 spectators who turned up to watch the match, in particular Civo which is one of the established football teams in the country.

“We took advantage of the match to spread the message of peace and unity prior and after the game and it is a further confirmation that football has the power to mobilise people,” said Vuwa-Kaunda.

He said apart from preaching unity, government is also using the game as a tool to eradicate crime which is a threat to peace.

Kaunda said Nkhata Bay was chosen because it is a tourist destination, “and where there is peace, there is a potential to attract investors”.

Civo United general secretary Rashid Mtelela described the friendly match as beneficial because they also used it as a scouting exercise.

“Nkhata Bay is good at producing promising players and we took it as an opportunity to scout for talent. It also gave us a chance to tune up as the league has reached a crucial stage,” said Mtelela

Among those who watched the match were senior chiefs Fukamapiri and Mkumbira who urged the crowd to remain peaceful and cooperate with the police to fight crime.

Last week, a similar exercise was conducted in Mangochi where Blue Eagles took on Mangochi Police and Mangochi Select teams.