Sports budget trimmed by K400m

Malawi Ministry of Finance has revised downwards the budget for the Ministry of Youth and Sports from about K1.07 billion to K651 402 126.

This was announced by Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe in Parliament on Thursdayduring the current Mid-Year Budget Review.

But Gondwe said the development will not affect activities and personnel in the ministry as K423 million that has been deducted, was earmarked for renovations of Kamuzu Stadium and Kamuzu Institute for Sports (KIS) which have been put on hold.

“As far as sports is concerned, activities of the ministry and the personnel, have remained intact,” he said.

But reacting to the development, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu said he hoped that the budgets that associations presented would indeed be intact as claimed by the minister.

“Otherwise, there has never been a time when our budget has not been trimmed noticeably, leading to Sports Council scaling down its support.

“So, perhaps one would have expected that part of the funding earmarked for the renovations to still be allocated to council for associations’ activities,” he said.

The FAM president said the inadequate funding that associations get, underscores that sports is not looked at as a priority in the country.

Netball Association of Malawi (NAM) president Rosy Chinunda said she needed to get the details before commenting on the matter.