Council sticks to its guns on athletics polls
World Athletics has sought government’s intervention in the rift between Malawi National Council of Sports and the ousted Athletics Malawi (AM) leadership.
In a letter addressed to Ministry of Youth and Sports Principal Secretary Isaac Katopola, the world athletics body has said that it will not recognise any elective general assembly of the Athletics Malawi organised by the caretaker committee set for this Saturday.
Among others, World Athletics has faulted Sports Council for dissolving the ousted executive committee and the ban imposed on the association’s embattled president Godfrey Phiri and general secretary Frank Chitembeya.
The letter, signed by World Athletics’ member federations relations senior manager Jee Isram reads in part: “As you can appreciate, such actions by the Sports Council have wider implications for World Athletics and its relationship with AM [Athletics Malawi] both from a governance and operational perspective, not least because World Athletics will hold its elective congress on 17 and 18 August 2023 in Budapest, Hungary.
“Therefore, we advise that your ministry establishes a constructive dialogue with the current elected board of the AAM to resolve the underlying issues and safeguard their autonomy.
“We request that you work with the board and the membership of the AM in order to elecxt a new board, in harmony, for the development of athletics in your country.”
But in an interview yesterday, Katopola wondered why World Athletics did not get in touch with Sports Council in the first place.
He said: “I thought they should have written to Sports Council first because when we step in, we are accused of government intervention.
“So, they should have exhausted all avenues before seeking our intervention.
“Anyway, for now what I can say is that I have just received the letter this afternoon and we’ll sit down to see how we can handle the issue.”
In a separate interview yesterday, Sports Council board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise rebuffed World Athletics, saying they are going ahead with the elections this Saturday.
He said: “Our position is simple. We cannot be derailed by one person. We haven’t received the letter and ordinarily, they should have first written to us.
“So, we are proceeding with the elections and everything is set.”
On the other hand, Chitembeya said the step taken by World Athletics is not surprising.
He said: “We said Sports Council missed the plot from the word go.
“Actually, the writing is on the wall and if they [Sports Council] stick to their guns, then we will be banned, a development that will be very unfortunate as it will be the innocent athletes that will suffer. They have triesd everything to sabotage us”
Sports Council dissolved the AM executive committee last year for failing to conclusively finalise amendments to the constitution and hols elections within schedule. Council then appointed an caretaker committee headed by Supreme Court of Appeal judge Sylvester Kalembera to oversee the constitutional review as well as the elections.
