Gendaball committee engages government

Tom Sangala February 2, 2019

331 1 minute read

By Mphatso Malidadi

The national steering committee for the country’s newest sport, Gendaball, has engaged Malawi National Council of Sports to recognise the game so that it is officially launched in the country.

Ethiopia-based inventor of the game, Francis Mwalabu, said they were excited after the Ministry of Sports recognised the sport.

“An official launch was supposed to take place last year in November but was postponed due to calendar problems. We are still discussing with the Malawi National Council of Sports to identify a convenient date to have the launch sometime this year.

“We were asked to submit a budget to Sports Council, which we did. And the council expressed readiness to sponsor the event. They also designated a focal point who was working with members of my team on the modalities for organising the launch. What remains for now is to re-engage the council to identify the most convenient date for the launch,” he said.

Mwalabu said they were making strides in their quest to launch the sport at national level having introduced it in all the three regions of the country.

“I have managed to introduce the sport across the country and I have active teams that are promoting the sport in the three regions,” he said.

Mwalabu said the steering committee was working tirelessly having organised over 50 promotional activities mainly in primary and secondary schools, and in some tertiary education institutions.

“We have also taken the sport to locations mainly in Blantyre, Lilongwe, Zomba and Mzuzu cities. We have managed to attract a few corporate organisations which have shown interest to sponsor some of our promotional activities. FDH gave us a donation of K400,000 and a few companies have asked us to submit proposals for sponsorship arrangements,” he said.

The gendaball inventor also appealed to the private sector to assist the committee financially to organise more promotional activities before the national launch.

“The assistance can be channelled to us through the Malawi National Council of Sports and it will be very much appreciated. This is our own game and we should join hands in supporting it,” he said.

Sports Council Executive Secretary, George Jana, confirmed discussions with the steering committee.

“We are currently in discussion to launch the sport and we are already assisting them towards that. However, we have advised them that they must continue going into programme as they are doing to publicise the sport and form an association to manage it for eventual affiliation and registration with the council,” Jana said.