Vandalism costs Bingu Stadium heavily
Bingu National Stadium manager Ambirike Mwaungulu says the facility has in the recent past lost utility items worth millions of kwacha through theft and vandalism.
He was reacting to recent pictures taken at the 40 000-capacity stadium which showed vandalised and stolen items such as water taps and sinks, pipes, doors, chairs and water hydrants.
Mwaungulu said: “It’s difficult to quantify how much has been lost because it recurs.
“It is a malpractice that has been there for sometime. When I was posted here in 2020, I found that many things had either been vandalised or stolen.
“For instance at one point, we established that about 100 taps had either been vandalized or stolen and now they could be more than that.”
He said the situation has improved of late because the facility is now guarded by government guards.
Mwaungulu said: “In the past, we used to outsource until it was established that some of the guards were involved. In fact, there were times when there would be no guards.
“Security is now better since we engaged our own guards. The police and the community have also been helpful, leading to the arrest of some suspects.”
However, the stadium manager said although the situation has improved, there is still more to be done.
“Security is there, but for such a huge facility, there is need to beef up,” said Mwaungulu.
He also said there are plans to engage the communities through traditional leaders to raise awareness the need to protect the facility.
Said Mwaungulu: “We feel that through community policing and civic education, we can control the situation. We need to drum into the surrounding communities that it belongs to them and they need to protect it. They should have that sense of ownership.”
Ministry of Youth and Sports director of sports Jameson Ndalama could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Sports analyst Charles Nyirenda said: “The issue of vandalism may be motivated by linient sentences meted out on offenders.
“Other countries have a legal provision that places such offences under what they term economic sabotage and the sentences tend to be very harsh against transgressors.”
Just last Saturday, Kawale Police in Lilongwe arrested six suspects for allegedly stealing building materials valued at over K6 million at the newly-built Aquatic Centre situated at Kamuzu Institute for Sports.
