Youth games get presidential boost

President Lazarus Chakwera and Vice-President Saulos Chilima will grace fundraising activities for the Malawi Youth Games this Saturday in Lilongwe.

A statement from the Malawi National Council of Sports yesterday said the President will be the guest of honour at a dinner slated for Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe which will be preceded by a fundraising golf tournament at Lilongwe Golf Club earlier in the day where the Veep will be in attendance.

The event has been organised by Sports Council in partnership with the Institute of Marketing in Malawi (IMM).

In an interview yesterday, Sports Council spokesperson Edgar Ntulumbwa said: “The Malawi Youth Games is a vehicle for identifying and nurturing talent across the country as all schools, both private and public from primary and secondary schools, take part and we feel honoured that the President and Vice-President have accepted to be part of this noble initiative.”

He said Sports Council has invested about K240 million in this year’s games. 

On his part, IMM vice-president George Damson, who is also chairperson of the fundraising committee, said by partnering with Sports Council, IMM is helping the nation fulfil part of the Malawi 2063 agenda where sports is an important element of human health and development under the human capital development enabler. 

He said: “As IMM we are very committed to ensuring that we play our role towards realisation of MW2063 as part of our strategic plan.

“Earlier this year, we partnered with the Ministry of Tourism in hosting a public lecture on the value of tourism to Malawi as a precursor the Takulandirani Tourism Expo.

“A few weeks ago, we hosted the Buy Malawi Town Hall which was attended by the Minister of Industry and Trade and other key stakeholders.”

The Malawi Youth Games are in their third edition. The first  took place in November 2021 and 7 150 schools across the country registered for the games in which 163 000 learners were involved.

Ntulumbwa said 800 learners competed for national honours at the finals and the games where Sports Council invested K150 million, were held under the theme The future begins now.

The second edition was held in October 2022 at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe and registered 11 200 schools with  993 600 learners participating in the games while 1 200 learners competed for national honours.

It was held under the tag line ‘Creating a Winning Nation’ and it cost the council K240 million.

The third edition started in April this year and the division finals, to determine who will qualify for the national finals, were held at the weekend.