Malawian sports need excellent infrastructure too
The social media is awash with criticisms over government’s recent action to fulfil its promise to build excellent sports stadia, saying its priorities are upside down because the country needs far much more than sports stadia.
Someone argued that instead of giving Mzimba a sports stadium why not swap it for the Jenda-Edingeni road? Or Mombera University?
Another said: “Those of you close to the pot, do we really need these stadia that will cost K13.5bn considering many other challenges that we have? Pena pake (somehow) our priorities leave a lot to be desired.”
One comment I liked was this: “Just wondering. While Malawi is wasting scant little resources building stadiums, other African countries are busy at work at the World Economic Forum building alliances and showcasing their attractiveness as investment destinations and trade partners.”
While I did not appreciate the author’s argument that the government is ‘wasting scant resources’ I liked the observation that Malawi should have joined the other African countries at the World Economic Forum to build alliances and attract trade partners to Malawi as an investment destination.
The government indeed needs to revitalise the country as it does need plenty of good amenities for its people and definitely one of them are stadia we are trying to reject.
We can only ask the government that while it is such a good idea to have the stadia, it should also move at a fast pace to provide other services in great need like excellent road network, drugs in the hospitals, reliable power and water supply, farm irrigation systems and many other needs we are crying for.
The sports fraternity, just like other areas, has for many years bemoaned that it has been neglected for far too long and that’s why as a country we never do well in all fields of sport.
The sports fraternity is happy with the infrastructure boost it is receiving and it’s an insult to argue that the government is ‘wasting scant resources’ in providing it with the stadia.
Maybe we can ask, how did the sports fraternity manage to convince government to construct the stadia instead of concentrating on building good road network, providing drugs in the hospitals, providing reliable power and water supply, initiating farm irrigation systems and many other needs we are crying for.
Sports need excellent things just like any other social amenity. We needed these stadia as of the yesteryear. If we want the government to also provide other excellent services, let’s just ask for it instead of telling it that it made a mistake on the stadia.
Ask for everything that needs to be provided but don’t belittle what is being done for sports. This is also a serious business — it provides employment for the youths, for God’s sake!
How many times have we asked the government to do something for our sports to be at par with the rest of the continent? Why should we now declare that such a request being fulfilled is useless?
I, for one, congratulate the government for the stadia initiative. The sports fraternity is happy with this develoPment but has become noticeably silent because of the backlash the decision is receiving through social media.
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In six months time these stadia will have no running water. The toilets will be filthy. Nobody will want to go there anymore
The article misses the point. We are not saying Stadiums are bad, no. Malawians, it is a question of ranking our projects. We can’t start with sports while we don’t have food – Construction of Irrigation Schemes must come first. Everybody knows that rains are very unpredictable these days. Thereafter we should complete all outstanding road projects. Zomba – Jali – Phalombe, Jenda – Edingeni and many roads are unfinished basi tikuyambanso zina. Before stadiums let’s invest in power generation nanga kopanda magetsi akhala ma stadium otani?. Let’s change this thinking Malawians we will go nowhere if aren’t focused.