Council questions authenticity of World Athletics letter
Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) has taken a bold line questioning the authenticity of the World Athletics (WA) letter which led to the postponement of Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) elections that were slated for today in Salima.
In a statement released yesterday, the council has indicated that it will go ahead with elections which the caretaker committee was mandated to run.
“The council’s action comes in following council’s lack of satisfaction with the methodology employed in the communication, the language used and the manner in which the communication was done
“The council’s chairperson Dr. Sunduzwayo Madise has written to the President of World Athletics seeking clarification on whether the e-mail that was sent to the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports is the official position of the World Athletics on the matter of AAM,” reads the letter which has been signed by council’s public relations and communications officer Edgar Ntulumbwa.
“The Chairperson, in the letter has also emphasised that it is the council that has the statutory mandate to regulate and control sports in Malawi and that council has neither been consulted nor communicated to by the World Athletics on the matter.
“The council would want to make it clear that the postponement of the elections does not affect the administrative structures of AAM. The committee led by Mr. Godfrey Phiri still remains dissolved and Mr. Drake Chithambo is the head of the technical committee, albeit in a care-taker capacity.
“The Council will decide the way forward and will announce in due course when the elections of the national executive committee will be held,” the letter reads.
Ntulumbwa confirmed the letter but refused to take questions while Madise could not be reached for comment.
However, Phiri said the council’s step will widen the rift.
“This will not sort out our problems. The Sports Council indicated that it will not answer a letter which was not addressed to them and what is this then? Instead of finding a solution to resolve this they are now creating a parallel structure. Come what may World Athletics will never recognise any person as of now up until we are voted out of office,” he said.
Phiri, who was in Zambia attending Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) elective congress, said they will resolve the issue without the intervention of the Sports Council.
