Athletes chase away Luanar students from Kamuzu Institute

Irate athletes who were training at Kamuzu Institute for Youth in Lilongwe on Tuesday chased away students from Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar) as misunderstandings over the place deepens.

One athlete told Nyasa Times that the students arrived at the sports facility around 10am for inspection but kept on disturbing athletes who were doing both indoor and outdoor training.

This annoyed the athletes who chased away the unsuspecting students and they never returned.

This is just a symptom of huge misunderstanding between Malawi Sports Council and Ministry of Youth and Sports following government decision to take away the sports facility from the sports council to the sports ministry.

Ministry of Youth and Sports Council spokesperson Christopher Ngukwa confirmed the incident.

“Luanar wants to use two of the many rooms at the institute. Others will continue using the other rooms for their indoor and outdoor sports activities. We will make a well laid down program on how to use the facility,” said Ngukwa.

Luanar officials could not be reached for comment on how they intend the rooms at the institute as classes with noise coming from training athletes.

But minister of Youth and Sports Grace Chiumia hinted earlier that the athletes will now be allowed to use the facility on weekends only.

The institute was constructed during the reign of first head of state Kamuzu Banda for both indoor and outdoor sports activities and was mainly used by the former paramilitary wing of the Malawi Congress Party, the infamous Malawi Young Pioneers which was forcibly disarmed by the Malawi Army soldiers who also torched and damaged the institute as it was regarded as a mini base of the MYP.