Phiso urges sports associations to be serious
Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Francis Phiso, has urged sports associations in Malawi to be serious and active to provide an environment that can attract sponsors into various sporting disciplines.
Phiso was speaking in Blantyre at a meeting that brought together sports administrators, sports associations’ leadership, Ministry of Sports and the Malawi National Council of Sports.
He lamented that in previous meetings with sponsors, it was established that most would be sponsors and current sponsors are failing to come into sports because most sports associations are disorganised.
“We think if we do things correctly, time has come for Malawi to start winning medals. When sponsorship is there, there is stiff competition but without any sponsorship, competition is not there and we cannot have strong national teams,” said Phiso.
Chairperson for the Malawi National Council of Sports, Oliver Nakoma, said sports associations in the country should start running sports as business to attract sponsorship from the corporate world.
“They need to make sure that they are serious. Some associations do not even have offices. They need to have offices so that when sponsors want to meet them, they should meet them in offices,” remarked Nakoma.
Chess Association of Malawi (CHESSAM) President, Suzen Namangale, said the meeting will help sports associations in the country to carry out their duties diligently.
“This forum will help to provide the change that is required. We can also learn from each other as leaders of associations so that we can work better,” Namangale said.
The Chess Association of Malawi was recently voted as the most organised sports association for year 2019 at the Sports Awards Gala that took place in Lilongwe.
