Good news from Nankhumwa about more stadia

It is sweet music to hear that the Malawi government plans to construct more community stadia across the country.
This was disclosed by Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Kondwani Nankhuma, after commissioning the refurbished Mulanje Park that today has attracted top notch matches involving the country teams in the top flight TNM Super League.

He disclosed that Parliament has already approved the budget to build community stadia in Zomba and Ntcheu and that other districts that shall benefit include Mangochi, Monkey Bay, Nkhotakota, Rumphi and Karonga.

This is really good news because Malawians deserve better in terms of recreation and entertainment as well as that the district councils shall be earning a lot in terms of revenue.

Like I said before, the district councils should make sure that they should put in reserve some of the money they shall be realising from the gate collections towards proper maintenance and for upgrading the facilities.

What we lack in Malawi is the knack to maintain our infrastructure and that is why all our sports facilities are so dilapidated as is the case with the stadia, Kamuzu, Civo and Mzuzu.
We had community centres that used to host high profile matches such as those in Zomba, Lilongwe, Mzuzu as well as BAT Ground, Kalulu, Escom Ground, MDC Stadium and others but today they are not fit for any match — even for junior development exercises.

At the same time, please also consider netball. This sport needs proper attention because our national netball team is respected in the world.

These girls who raise the Malawi flag don’t deserve to be playing on hard concrete surfaces and in the hot sun. They deserve special indoor facilities with the court suitable for playing this game like they enjoy when they travel to countries like South Africa, England,

New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere.
The former president, late Bingu wa Mutharika — may his soul rest in peace — pledged to construct a state of the art netball facility for netball so that as a country we can afford to invite the giants of world netball such as England, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, Wales, South Africa for Test Series like what those countries do.

Can England, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, Wales and others accept to come to Malawi and play on concrete surfaces of Blantyre Youth Centre? South Africa are forced to come because of their obligation for the Confederation of Southern Netball Associations (Cosana) and the African Championship currently underway in Uganda but otherwise they too don’t have any desire to come over for Test Series.

Netball raises the Malawi flag high. Imagine just a few days ago, some Belgian journalists said news that their compatriot Ronny Van Geneogden (RVG) has landed a job as coach for the Flames astounded Belgians because he has never coach a national team as well as that they did not know that of Malawi as a footballing country.

That speaks volume that our men are better known just in Africa but if you were in England, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, Wales and elsewhere and you talk of Malawi netball, the sport’s enthusiasts in those countries would definitely remember the likes of Mary Waya, Peace Chawinga, Mwawi Kumwenda and the others pretty well.

So they deserve something better than what they have. Let’s share the resources equally and fairly. All those community stadia being planned in the districts mentioned, should in very near future also be provided with netball facilities and they should be indoors.

That way netball is going to be much stronger than it is now. Remember that Mwawi is contributing to the glamour of netball in New Zealand and it would be a huge embarrassment if some tourists from that country were to visit Malawi and decided to see the venue where she became the player she is.

I don’t know if I would pluck the courage and show them the Blantyre Youth Centre in its state that many decades later after its construction, it has never been upgraded to some glamour that can host countries like England, New Zealand, Australia, Jamaica, Wales and others.

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