Govt summons NAM sponsor

Government has summoned Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) sponsor Rach Family Trust (RFT) to explain its failure to fulfil its contractual obligations to fund Malawi national netball team assignments, Weekend Nation has established.

NAM and RFT signed a K600 million five year pact last year, which among others, would see the sponsor handing the netball governing body K120 million for the Queens and other netball programmes annually, but over a year down the line, the sponsor has only released K15 million.

Director of sports in the Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Jameson Ndalama confirmed that they have summoned RTF following a complaint lodged by NAM and an observation that there “seems to be no progress on the construction of a netball court.”

“It is true that we have asked the sponsor to explain the reasons why they are failing to fulfil the contract. We want to find solutions to the deadlock in this sponsorship deal,” he said.

Though the agreement was between NAM, a non-government entity and RFT but Ndalama said they have intervened because they were witness to the deal and that NAM is an affiliate of the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) which is a government arm.

“The ministry signed the sponsorship deal as a witness so we are liable to intervene and find the best possible solution,” he said.

On his part, Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development Francis Kasaila yesterday said as government, they appreciate that the deal is not working as they expected.

“It is unfortunate that things are not working out as anticipated. So, we would like the two parties to meet and map the way forward.

“They need to sit down and agree on whether to continue or cancel the contract so that NAM can look at other avenues,” he said.

NAM president Khungekile Matiya said they complained to MNCS after RFT did not fund the Queens’ participation at the Africa Championship and Fast5 World Netball Series last year.

“We presented our budgets prior to the games but we did not get the funding. We asked the council to help persuade the sponsor to honour the contractual obligations,” she said.

The NAM president confirmed that all they have received since the two sides signed the deal was K15 million.

“When we ask the sponsor about the funding all they say is that they will give us the money and it doesn’t happen. We still believe we can make this relationship work that is why we asked for the intervention of the council,” she said.

Matiya said the lack of RFT support was affecting them since they are forced to spend the government allocation on national team programmes instead of supporting other netball activities.

“When we secured the sponsor we felt it was an opportunity to save the money for other projects like organising tournaments and training technical personnel as we try to modernise our game. But without the funding from the sponsor, we are using the little we have for the national team,” she said.

The Nam leader also said it was difficult to seek funding from the corporate world because they companies would most probably argue “that why do you want our assistance when you have a sponsor who is giving you millions.”

RFT chairperson Ravi Rach had not responded to our questionnaire by press time yesterday.

Meanwhile, MNCS executive secretary George Jana they lodged NAM’s complaint to the ministry because it was directly involved in the deal.

“We could not handle the issue because we were not the signatories of the agreement. The witness was the ministry so we took the Nam complaints to them,” he said

Jana admitted though that the non-commitment of the sponsor has inconvenienced the council because it is being forced to meet Nam’s expenses which were supposed to be covered by Rach Family Trust.

According to the contract which both parties signed, NAM was obliged to allow RFT use netball as “a market vehicle for their products without prejudice of the players and the sport”.

“NAM shall ensure proper coordination of this and other related projects,” reads the contract in part.

The association was also tasked to ensure that the Queens’ uniforms are branded “RFT for all local and international games where RTF is the main sponsor.”

The contract states that any side can terminate the contract if it feels that the other party is breaching its obligations.

It reads: “Notwithstanding anything contained in this agreement either party may terminate the agreement if the other party is in breach of any of the obligations….”

According to the contract, RTF would, among others, sponsor the national netball league, provide the national team with kits and organise refresher courses for coaches, umpires and administrators.

Though not included in the contract, the sponsor during the signing in ceremony of the deal, also promised to construct a modern netball court, a project clouded in uncertainty as there is nothing on the ground.