Who cares about the stadium?

When I first heard that government had decided to construct a sports stadium in Lilongwe with Chinese funding, I just listened and moved on. I did not spend much thought on that as I had been spending my energies then trying to understand the Nsanje Port, Peter Mutharika’s ascendancy to power, Ndata Farm and things like that. I was also trying to learn from people who know what has become of Nguru ya Nawambe (Nguru ya Nabambe), Kamuzu’s house up the hill in Kasungu.

I had also been thinking why no one seems to be taking any action against the illegal garbage dumping along Laws Road in Blantyre. In case you do not know which road I am talking about, if you were going to Chilomoni from Blantyre commercial town and you took the main ‘Chilomoni road’ you pass Ryalls Protea Hotel to your left and the road to your left just after passing Ryalls is Laws Road. In other words, if you are coming down from Blantyre Adventist Hospital, if you just went down that road to the Reserve Bank of Malawi, the road on the right side of Ryalls is Laws Road.

Finally, let me say that Ryalls Hotel is bound to the left and right by Hannover and Laws Streets. Now at the top end of Laws, is a dumping site that no one seems to care about. The city council should clean up the mess, put up a sign that this is no dumping ground and engage Bintony Kutsaira’s spies who will catch the culprits. Protea Ryalls will be happy and I will be happy too. Case closed.

Let me return to the story about the stadium that has since been “shifted.” I mean the idea from Lilongwe to Blantyre. When I heard Lilongwe residents suggesting that this was unfair and blab la blab la, blab la, I supported the government by siding with it in moving the construction to Blantyre. Of course, I thought Soche would not be a good location, rather, demolish Langely (Kamuzu aka Chichiri Stadium) and have a new stadium built. Now I am oscillating on that too. Why don’t we have the stadium at Ndata? The President gave the nation his own land for the construction of the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST). Why not give the nation some more land for the stadium? You know what friends? Stadia are a huge investment but hardly used to the maximum by the people.

If the stadium gets to Ndata, there are several advantages. One, students at this university will not just be in class, doing experiments and being nerds. They would have time to relax, jog the race track, play football and netball to keep their geared-up brains in shape. Secondly, unless Chichiri Shopping Centre and Ginnery Corner where fuel scarcity does happen, the filling station at Goliati, just next to Ndata never runs dry (I have not verified this but my friends tell me so). Thirdly, the government can justify the idea that there is already Chinese construction going on and the equipment doesn’t have to be moved far. Finally, it is Adamson Muulas’s home district.