Doom for Malawi basketball

Sports Council has warned Basketball Association of Malawi (Basmal) of lowered funding cuts unless the association puts its house in order.

The council’s executive se2cretary George Jana made the statement on Friday after Basmal vice-president Ben Mlasaanthu complained that the decline of their annual subvention from K6 million in 2009 to K2 million at present has partly contributed to the crumbling of basketball standards in the country.

In 2009, K6 million was equivalent to $42 960, an amount that stands at $15 210 at current exchange rate. The cut of funding to K2 million means Basmal now gets almost 600 percent less than what they could have been receiving from government.

On top of that, basketball gets K1 million for Presidential Initiative on Sports (PIS) Championships; 30 times less than what their sister sport netball receives for a similar event.

But Jana, who played for Chanco Hawks in the early 1990s, said things would move in the right direction for basketball if the sport’s local governing body improves on governance issues and do their best to run their affairs in accordance with their statutes.

The issue was brought to the fore following Nation on Sunday’s investigation on why the sparkle of the game has dampened over the years despite most of its current and former players, including Vice-President Saulosi Chilima and Jana, hold influential positions in companies and government.

“Basmal rarely submits to the council their annual budget and they expect government to continue giving them chunks of money when they do not have any plans. Apart from that ask them what they do on their part to raise funds for their activities that require complementary support from government,” said Jana.

“If they do not give us their strategic plans and do nothing in terms of raising funds to complement funding from government, I am afraid things might turn worse for them because we cannot just dump money in a zero plate. They need to clearly outline their programmes if things are to improve.”

However, Mlasaanthu said the council no longer pays attention to basketball needs and Basmal has not been approached for years aside from being given their K2million annual allocation, which slumped from K3million in 2011.

In spite of that, Basmal’s second in command admitted that the credibility of the game has been blighted by some administrative hiccups, infighting and indiscipline among some officials and players.

Mlasaanthu said during his four-year tenure of office, he has witnessed a number of irregularities among some fellow administrators to the effect that he no longer wishes to seek re-election during next month’s elective general assembly.

“Within the body, we have two components of administrators; individuals that sought election to help develop the sport and those whose interests were personal gains. Now it is the latter that spoil the sport. They do not want to work, but hibernate and only resurface when they see something on the table.

“We really need to put our house in order administratively to regain the sport’s lost glory. We have knocked on doors of companies on numerous times for sponsorship, but nothing positive comes out partly because of this malaise,” he said.

Before 2007, basketball was arguably one of the best sports disciplines in the country in terms of popularity and sponsorship but now it is one of the poorest and least supported among Malawi’s 43 sports disciplines.

For the last decade, basketball leagues in the country’s three regions, save for a few social bonanzas, continue to run without sponsorship and there has not been a sponsored national tournament since the Sprite Basketball Championships in 2007. Infrastructures are available but refurbishing them to acceptable standards is a problem.

The country has also not assembled the national team and there has not been participation in international competitions for the past four years, putting basketball development to a standstill.

Back in the days, companies such as Carlsberg Malawi Limited, National Bank of Malawi (NBM), Banja La Mtsogolo and Mkulumadzi Bakery frequently sponsored the sport and sometimes fighting for a space to fund competitions due to its tight calendar of events.

According to analysts, the deterioration of basketball standards has also negatively impacted on the allure of spectators, who, as the falling attendances at basketball venues such as Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) show, are turning away from the game into a world of more diversions.

Former Basmal vice-president Jacob Chikoya and Mimbulu’s veteran player Daudi Suleiman believe that if nothing is done to restructure operations anytime soon, things might worse, for the sport in decades to come.

“Administrators at Basmal should start thinking outside the box. Companies cannot come in with sponsorship with politics going on within their fold. First of all, we need to remove regionalism from the sport because it breeds squabbles,” said Chikoya, whose tenure ended three years ago.

He added that the body should try its best to be accountable with whatever little support they get from government because “if government can trust Basmal, companies would also have faith in the organisation.”

“In recent times, we have seen individuals coming in with support, but there had been no back up receipts to determine how funds had been used. It is also such minor details that can help to rebuild trust,” he said.

On his part, Suleiman, who has played for Mimbulu since 2000, said administrators need to do things in a structured manner because sponsors do not deal with supervisors that do not document their operations.

“It is high time we stopped voting people into office just because they are friends. We need individuals with proper knowledge of these things,” he said.

Bricks captain Fletcher Mtawali concurred with Suleiman that indiscipline among some athletes have also driven a knife into the back of the sport.

He pointed out how Crazy Warriors’ abandonment of the recent Malawi Environmental Endowment Trust (Meet) Bonanza in front of the sponsors in protest against a foul as a good example. Southern Zone Basketball League (Sozobal) said they would effect a ban on the team.