NAM presidential hopeful Khungekile Matiya has said the outgoing committee of the country’s netball body has failed to take the game to greater heights.
Speaking in an interview with The Nation on Wednesday, the former Blantyre and Districts Netball League (BDNL) chairperson claimed that the netball fraternity is frustrated with the outgoing committee’s failure to fulfil the promises they made three years ago when they were ushered into office.
“I am 75 percent optimistic that I will win the elections this time around because the netball fraternity feels let down by the outgoing committee which has failed to take the sport to another level as they promised during the previous elections.
“I have interacted with almost everybody and the message coming from the stakeholders is that they want change for prosperity sake. They are saying most of the members from the outgoing committee only need them when it is time for elections, but when it comes to proper running of the game, they have been quite disappointing,” said Matiya.
She claimed that, among other areas, the outgoing committee has failed to establish proper structures such as developing the game from the grass roots, ensuring proper communication flow with the affiliates, improving corporate governance and sourcing sponsorship for Lilongwe and Mzuzu major leagues.
However, the incumbent NAM president Rosy Chinunda dismissed her competitor’s claims, saying under her tenure, there was notable improvement in the game.
“Among other things, we were able to reorganise the structures from the grass roots. We also established a secretariat. For the first time, the Queens also defied all odds to beat global giants such as Australia and England in competitive games.
“Apart from that, we produced the first-ever professional netballer in Mwawi Kumwenda and sourced sponsorship for tournaments such as the GOtv and the Presidential Netball Cup.
“So, those were some of the achievements by my committee,” said Chinunda.
On the race for vice-presidency, the incumbent Henry Kamata will face Ethel Muphuwa while incumbent general secretary Hellene Mpinganjira will face Southern Region Netball Committee (SRNC) chairperson Carol Bapu.
