Time out
The bulk of sports associations affiliated to Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) failed to submit their plans for the 2020/21 financial year and risk not being considered for funding.
MNCS sports development manager Ruth Mzengo yesterday said out of 38 affiliated sports codes, only 12 submitted their plans and budgets.
She said: “As a sports governing body, we need to appreciate their plans so that we can ably follow up and offer technical and financial support if need be.”
On whether the council has made an effort to reach out to the 26 associations to understand why they did not submit the plans, Mzengo said: “As of now, the priority will be to reach out to those that submitted their plans so that we see how we can support them.”
However, she could not provide names of the associations that failed to submit the plans, saying she was out of office.
But according to our findings, those that submitted their plans include Football Association of Malawi, Netball Association of Malawi, Volleyball Association of Malawi, Basketball Association of Malawi, Weightlifting and Body Building, Malawi Paralympic Committee, Cycling Association of Malawi, Table Tennis Association of Malawi, Malawi Boxing Association, Association of Draughts of Malawi, Special Olympics and Malawi Schools Sports Association.
Notable associations that have not presented their plans are Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM), Lawn Tennis Association of Malawi, Golf Union of Malawi and Hockey Association of Malawi.
On his part, Sports Council acting executive secretary Henry Mereka said in the absence of plans and budgets “it is difficult to technically and financially help the associations”.
He said the deadline for submitting the plans was in January.
“So, although they did not give reasons for their failure to submit their plans, we will still make an effort to hear them out,” said Mereka.
However, AAM general secretary Frank Chitembeya said they saw no need to submit their plans this time around because for the past three years that they have been doing so, they have not been benefiting from government funding.
He said: “Since 2017, we have been submitting our plans and budgets to Sports Council, but we have not been getting a penny, as such we looked at this as a mockery. We believe they have their own interests
“Our move not to submit the plans, was, therefore, by design. They have been very unhelpful and it would be a waste of time to continue submitting the plans.
“So, going forward, we will see what we can do, but we are not amused.”
However, Mereka said submissions of plans is not only about funding consideration.
He said: “It is unfortunate that some people think that they are submitting budgets for the purposes of funding. Our obligation is to develop and promote sport and we can only do that if we appreciate associations’ plans.”
