Kamuzu Stadium woes
Fifa safety and security experts Peter Weymes and Rick Riding were Friday baffled by the state of the Kamuzu Stadium after inspecting the country’s oldest stadium.
For two hours, the duo, who are from UK’s Sports Grounds Safety Authority (SGSA), went around the stadium, inspecting every aspect of the facility from the cordoned off terraces to vandalized toilets; turnstiles, dirty changing rooms, control rooms, blocked drainage system, vandalised entrance and exit gates.
They kept on asking questions on how the crowd is controlled, how the disabled enter and leave the stadium and the blueprint of the facility.
Most of these are not available or they were there decades ago, but have now been vandalised.
Though an official report is yet to be released, from the unofficial comments made during the inspection, the duo was shocked with the old-fashioned stadium’s state.
“It’s old and complicated. What we have done is to collect data that we needed. But it’s going to take hours for us to analyse the data and come up with a report and understand how this old thing works,” Weymes told Football Association of Malawi officials that accompanied the duo.
Director of sports in the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Jameson Ndalama, said most of the concerns noted will be rehabilitated.
“We will wait for their report. From that report, we will be able to see what they have recommended and how to improve the safety of the facility,” he said.
The duo also inspected the newly-built Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe followinga stampede that killed eight people.
