Sports council drills affiliates

Malawi National Council of Sports on Saturday met its member associations in Blantyre to orient them on governance issues.

Sports Council spokesperson Faith Mlauzi yesterday said the meeting was also aimed at familiarising its new board with the associations.

She said: “The key  issues were the need for associations to observe governance structures and norms when running their associations. Council will soon issue guidelines on several issues, including qualifications of persons who can stand for elections.

“The need for accountability—for not only public funds provided through council—but also funds received from their international partners.”

Mlauzi said associations were also reminded about the need to seek authorisation from Sports Council and government before travelling abroad to represent Malawi or hosting international events.

The issue of associations being run by one person as a personal estate was also raised.

Reads part of a statement from the council: “There is lack of proper distribution of power and responsibilities. This becomes a challenge, especially when someone loses an election. All information as well as assets of the association are lost.”

Associations were also advised to refrain from rushing to the media whenever internal wrangles.

The need for associations to have an office and a physical address as well as setting up structures at  grassroots level were also raised during the meeting.

During the meeting, overdependence on government  and failure on the part of the associations to raise own funds for sustainability were also tackled at length.

Sports Council also cited failure by associations to conduct audit/submit audited accounts as required by law and failure to account for public funds made available to them—whether from government or elsewhere.

It also advised the associations on the need to have qualified people holding positions.

Sports Council also faulted some of the associations for concentrating on elective annual general assemblies instead of the normal ones.

In an interview, Athletics Association of Malawi acting general secretary (GS) Mzee Makawa described the meeting as fruitful.

He said: “It was an eye-opener in that most of the issues raised such as the need to have offices or physical address were relevant. .

“One other crucial issue was about constitutions as some of them are framed to deliberately bar those interested to contest.”

Football Association of Malawi GS Alfred Gunda said: “It was a good meeting as Sports Council has set the tone on how they want us to operate in terms of development and governance which is key.

“I take it as a positive meeting, but more to it is doing things together and moving in the same direction.

“We expect that we will create an understanding on how we want to grow our sports and that provisions will be made in terms of funding and infrastructure.”

The meeting was chaired by Sports Council board chairperson Sunduzwayo Madise.