BNS, Sulom in blame game over stadium gates closure
Scores of football fans jumped the perimeter fence at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) when gates remained closed after the Super League match between Silver Strikers and Be Forward Wanderers on Sunday.
The patient ones scrambled to exit through the small entrance gates.
In an interview yesterday, BNS public relations officer Irene Mkoko blamed Super League of Malawi (Sulom) for failing to ensure the gates were open after the match.
“The organisers are not helping us. They hire security personnel, who are responsible for the opening of these exit gates,” she said.
Mkoko, however, promised to report the issue to stadium management.
“This must stop because, at the end of the day, it is our image which is being dented when it is the organisers that are not doing the right thing,” she said.
But Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said stadium management is responsible for opening of the gates.
“They are the ones who keep the keys and they are supposed to have someone within their system who is responsible for opening these gates. Otherwise, we feel that what happened on Sunday was uncalled for and should not be repeated,” he said.
Banda also called for the coordination between the stadium personnel and the police who are responsible for security.
“We just feel that the stadium workers need to liaise with the police as to when to open the gates. This is what we advocate for in our pre-match meetings. Sulom is only responsible for what happens in the stadium. What happens out there has nothing to do with us,” he said.
During this year’s Independence Day celebrations on July 6, a stampede broke out because of late opening of the gates at the same stadium, when people scrambled for entry to watch a match between Nyasa Big Bullets and Silver Strikers.
A report by the task-force which President Peter Mutharika instituted to investigate the circumstances surrounding the tragedy, blamed the accident on poor planning, poor coordination and weak access to stadium control.
