MOC told to pay Queens’ dues

The protracted misunderstanding over the Malawi Queens dues amounting to over K500 000 for the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in Delhi, India, has finally been resolved following a stakeholders meeting in Lilongwe on Monday.

The meeting, which was presided over by director of sports in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Jameson Ndalama, resolved that the Malawi Olympic Committee (MOC) should pay the Queens delegation in local currency the equivalent of what they were supposed to get as external allowances in India.

“It was supposed to be a straight-forward issue. Actually, what happened was that when they went to India, MOC could not pay the Queens their allowances in full because they were using an ATM card which had a limit.

“So, they still owed the Queens allowances for seven days and it was agreed that they would be paid upon returning home. But then the Queens refused to be paid in local currency and instead demanded to be paid in dollars which was difficult and as a result, MOC deposited the money back into its account,” said Ndalama.

“We have since advised MOC to pay the outstanding dues not later than January 10,” he said.

MOC general secretary Hellene Mpinganjira said the committee’s treasurer Jappie Mhango or executive member Henry Sakala who represented the committee at the meeting were better placed to comment on the matter.

Mhango could not be reached yesterday while Sakala referred the issue back to council.

“Council are the ones who called for the meeting and they should be able to give the resolutions that were agreed,” said Sakala.

Sports Council executive secretary George Jana and NAM president Rosy Chinunda confirmed the resolution.

“It was resolved that MOC should pay the money which was then in the excess of K570 000, but it should be more because the initial list did not include officials,” she said.

Chinunda said the squad that made the trip was represented at the meeting by former Queens star shooter Linda Magombo Munthali.