JB laments lack of support for JBF tourney

President Joyce Banda on Monday evening expressed disappointment at what she described as lack of support towards the ongoing K100 million Joyce Banda Foundation (JBF) Inter-Constituency football and netball tournaments.

The President made the observation at Sanjika Palace in Blantyre during the audience she had with Big Bullets and Mighty Wanderers.

“I set up an inter-constituency trophy, but it has struggled to get the necessary support. The necessary people are not helping us to run the tournament effectively and yet there was also Big Bullets and Mighty Wanderers who are struggling to raise funds,” said Banda.

“What saddens me most is that the time my son Ian Banda played for Malawi, we were defeating big teams such as Cameroon and Egypt. What happened to us?” wondered the President.

She said if there are no resources, nothing can be achieved.

“However, I would like to truly believe that we can bring back the lost glory, we just need to apply ourselves in the best way we can,” she said.

However, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu, who was present at the function; and a government official who asked for anonymity, said they were involved in the tournament up to a certain point when they felt sidelined.

“I heard Her Excellency expressing her concerns on that, but what I can say is that we made joint resolutions with the foundation and government in the preliminary stages.

“We made suggestions on how best to proceed and we supported the competition in the best way we could, but there reached a point when we were left out. So, we would not know whether we let down the system in anyway,” said Nyamilandu.

Just like Nyamilandu, the government official said they were involved up to a certain point when they felt the foundation wanted to run the event in their own way.

“The format kept changing and the last time we dealt with them, we sent a proposal and there was no response,” said the official.

The competition’s coordinator Wyson Sumaili admitted that the hitch that the President referred to should have been from within the foundation.

“We cannot blame either FAM or Sports Council. If the President expressed concerns, then she must have been referring to internal hitches,” said Sumaili.

JBF is facing a race against time to wind up the tournament next month as it is still to be played in about eight districts.