Sports Council demands calendar of events
The Sports Council has demanded calendar of events from all its affiliated associations to help them fulfil their assignments properly when funds permit.
The affiliates include Netball Association of Malawi (NAM), which the council says is among those that seek last-gasp funding even on unplanned for assignments.
Council executive secretary George Jana confirmed through e-mail on Monday to have written the associations on the matter and further asking them on how they intend to generate additional income.
“It was meant to address matters of the government instituted moratorium on internal and external travel using money appropriated by government. The idea was to allow us chance to negotiate with government over particular programmes that we or the associations may not afford to miss, be it because of potential fines, suspension from participating in future activities or effects on development of the sport or project,” said Jana.
He cited football and netball authorities as among associations notorious for jumping at competitions even those that were not on calendar and when funding is not released, accuse government of lack of support.
“You may wish to know that at this stage, the netball association has programmes that it knows of for next year. And they, actually, knew of such even before they went to the Fast 5 tournament. However, at this stage, they have not consulted with government or council as regards what they may need, the worthiness of the programmes, how they will finance the programmes etc,” Jana complained
NAM president Rosy Chinunda on Tuesday appreciated that the council funds most of its activities.
This year, NAM received K30 million (about $75 000) against its budget of K109 million (about $273 000).
“The calendar was prepared and it was just an oversight that it was not submitted to the council. It is true that we are indeed among the associations that do not embark on income generating activities, but that is among our priorities next year,” said Chinunda.
FAM general secretary Suzgo Nyirenda claimed to have always submitted its calendar to the council and that the association tries to generate own income, but noted that national team engagements are predominantly government’s responsibility.
“Behind every plan there is a budget, but when we submit such budgets, they are not fully funded. All countries in the region and on the continent, governments are owners of the national teams. We can do some marketing, but that is not sufficient,” said Nyirenda.
FAM received K60 million (about $150 000) from government after submitting a budget of K500 million (about $1.2m). Acquatic Association of Malawi president Dean Pinto said they would comply with council’s request, describing it as good for planning purposes “but to be realistic, we do not expect much as most of our funding is in-house.”
Recently, retired Flames defender James Sangala said domestic sports suffer largely due to the fact that it is not a priority and that associations are found wanting on planning.
“If they [council] have done that, then it is a step in the right direction. It affects players that every time the team has to travel to a competition, due to funding hitches, there are always uncertainties on trips. It has to be a two-way process—associations have to plan, but that has to be matched with funding,” said Sangala.
