Budget cuts hit sports projects

Government has struck off nearly K1 billion from the 2017/18 National Budget meant for sports projects.

One affected project being Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) complex intended to provide indoor playing facilities.

Malawi does not have public indoor facilities, forcing sports associations, which are usually financially crippled, to hire private venues at high costs.

The other suspended project is the rehabilitation of sports facilities.

According to the 2017/18 Mid-Year Budget Review documents, BYC complex was allocated K800 million while other sports facilities were allocated K150 million for rehabilitation.

Speaking in Parliament earlier this week, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning Goodall Gondwe said they have pended some projects because government has not raised much revenue to finance them.

In total, 24 projects from a cross-section of ministries and departments have been pended, according to Gondwe.

Said Gondwe in his statement: “The budget has suffered two major traumas, the first being the excess in expenditure…and the second is the huge underperformance in the revenue collection of close to K45.9 billion.”

In an interview, Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development director of sports, Jameson Ndalama, said funds for sports rehabilitation were expected to go towards the upgrading of Civo Stadium in Lilongwe.

“As a ministry, when Treasury allocates us money to rehabilitate facilities, we select one facility where a chunk of the money goes. This time we chose Civo Stadium. But the pending means the project will wait,” he said.

On the BYC complex, Ndalama said the project was designed to provide indoor netball, volleyball and basketball courts, among other facilities.

Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) general secretary (GS) Carol Bapu expressed concern over the suspension of funding towards the projects, saying it will hamper netball development.

“During rainy season it is difficult to play on open courts and when the weather is hot, our players face the risk of exhaustion. We dearly need the indoor courts as soon as possible,” she said.

Bapu also said having the indoor public courts would help Malawi to host international netball tournaments.

Basketball Association of Malawi (Basmal) GS Edgar Ng’ong’ola wondered why government has pended the project that would be a venue to a lot of sports codes, when it is constructing football stadiums all over.

“We cannot see the rationale of this decision when the same government is trying to construct football stadiums in all the districts. Is this a football country or a sports country? These decisions demoralise other sports disciplines,” he said.

During the rainy season basketball games are usually played at Africa Bible College (ABC) Court, which Ng’ong’ola said is not “even certified by Federation of International Basketball Associations [Fiba].”

Rehabilitation at the Civo Stadium had already started in earnest with the drainage system and construction of an outdoor bar which could have helped the club in income generation.

Rashid Mtelera, secretary to the board under Office of President and Cabinet (OPC) that oversees Civo sports clubs and infrastructure, said the development means they will suspend the construction of netball court and beach soccer pitch.

“Apart from those, the other projects we were expected to implement using the funds were a pitch irrigation system inside the stadium, an outside bar which was meant to enhance our income generation,” he said.

Mtelera said the pending of the project funding means that all the projects will be suspended.