Minister dates sports associations
Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Francis Kasaila has called for a meeting with sports associations on November 17 in Blantyre to brainstorm on sports development.
It will be the first time in many years that a minister will meet the associations.
The ministry’s spokesperson Christina Mkutumula said the meeting is aimed at evaluating and planning for sports development.
“It is a policy that the ministry, through Malawi National Council of Sports [MNCS] should be meeting all sports associations at least once a year to come up with suggestions for addressing challenges facing the sports sector.
“It is only unfortunate that resources and time sometimes do not permit us to do so,” she said.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu commended the minister for the move.
“First and foremost, let me applaud the call for a meeting which is the first of its kind.
“We will take advantage of the meeting to talk about strategic and policy matters which need attention some of which relate to developmental national teams, law enforcement towards violence and hooliganism, infrastructure development in rural areas, support to attract sponsors, gate ticket management, optimisation of district structures, players’ welfare policy, promotion of women’s football and college for capacity building, among others,” he said.
Malawi Amateur Boxing Association (Maba) president Justice Katika welcomed the meeting, saying the association has a lot of problems hindering the development of the sport.
“This is a very important meeting because it’s been two years since we were elected, but we are yet to meet government. We need to interact and share ideas,” he said.
The Maba boss said the association was failing to organise tournaments and participate in international events because of lack of funding.
Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) president Godfrey Phiri also said the association would take advantage of the meeting to present its problems.
“We have financial problems as our annual allocation is not enough even to hold a single competition,” he said.
Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) general secretary Carol Bapu also said: “This is a good development which will offer us a chance to present our problems to the minister.”
Former minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Henry Mussa once indicated that he would call for a meeting but left for Ministry for Trade and Tourism before it was held.
