Sports Council awards innovative police officer
When police officer Kanduwa Sande began clearing the once dilapidated Kasupe football ground in Machinga in 2011 to turn it into a sports complex, many did no take him seriously.
But a decade later, the Malawi Police Service sub-inspector’s dream and efforts are being appreciated. The place now has a good football pitch complete with an underground irrigation system.
An athletics track, courts for netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis are also part of the complex.
Said Sande: “When I started this project, many people, including my fellow police officers, said I am a crazy person for sacrificing my free time and savings from my monthly salary on something that could not help to put food on the table for my family.”
Malawi National Council of Sports, led by board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise, on Saturday honoured the 42-year-old for his effort. The local sports governing body also donated sports equipment such as volleyball and tennis nets, tennis balls and volleyballs worth K2 million.
Sande said he thought of upgrading the ground as a way of helping the community in the rural district to reduce crimes such as rape and sexual assault.
He said: “As a police officer, I noted the increase of such crimes in this community and I realised that sports could help to reduce crime as many people could no longer be idle, but engage in sporting activities. Many people think of committing crimes or indulging in bad behaviour when they are idle.”
The father of three added that his background as an athlete and athletics coach also contributed to his desire to have a high-standard sports facility.
In 2017, his efforts on the project earned him a sports innovation award during the Malawi Broadcasting Corporation Innovations Awards.
On his part, Madise, who was accompanied by Sports Council acting executive secretary Henry Mereka, said Sande deserved to be honoured.
He said: “I could honour this man with an honorary doctorate degree if I had such an authority. As you can see, he is not someone that receives a handsome salary in the Malawi Police Service yet his sacrifice is beyond comprehension.
“It can take many people and millions of kwacha to erect a facility of this nature, but Sande physically did the work alone and invested his personal savings. He is not an ordinary person. He has a passion for sports development and he deserves a great honour.”
Besides donating the sports equipment, Madise said Sports Council will strive to source funding for the construction of concrete slabs on the complex’s netball, basketball, volleyball and tennis courts and the erection of a brick-wall fence.
He said the complex will help the Sports Council implement its Bring Back Sports in Schools’ Initiative and facilitate government’s reintroduction of a sports curriculum in schools as primary and secondary schools in Machinga will be using a high-standard facility.
It is said that Kasupe football ground was initially constructed during the one-party era over four decades ago and used to be a venue for rallies in Machinga for the country’s founding president the late Hastings Kamuzu Banda.
However, the place slowly turned into a bush before some individuals encroached the land and turned it into a maize field.
