Barely three months after hosting Africa Cup for Club Champions (ACCC) for the first time, Hockey Association of Malawi (Ham) risks losing part of the astro-turf and the floodlights which were valued at K325 million in 2017 Malawi News Sport has learnt.
Two service providers, who did not want to be mentioned, claimed that Ham officials have been playing a hide-and-seek game, running away from the responsibility of servicing the debt.
“According to the agreement we had with the local hockey body, they were supposed to honour the debt within a month of hosting the African tournament. Now they are elusive over the matter,” the source said.
Another source said the service providers were planning to work jointly in an effort to reclaim their dues.
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“In this case, we are considering whether we can follow the legal path to confiscate part of the facilities be it the floodlights or astro-turf to recover our money,” the source said.
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Apparently, Federation of International Hockey donated the astro-turf and the floodlights worth K325 million in 2017 to Ham as an award in appreciation of the association’s youth development initiatives in 2016.
The government, through Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS), provided funds for the installation works.
“It is indeed true that we owe a number of suppliers who provided us services and products to host the Africa Cup for Club Champions from November 18-26 last year.
“As you might be aware going into the tournament we had a deficit of close to K40 million and we tried to cut down expenses to still make the tournament possible. Right now we owe different service providers close to K24 million,” Mughogho said.
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In terms of support, Mughogho said Ham got help from different companies and institutions.
Times Group, Malawi Defence Force, Namadzi Waters, Smart Creatives, Malawi Olympic Committee, Henkus Group, Sunrise Ground Tours, Articulate Solutions, Mindworks Marketing Agency, Workforce Recruitment Agency, La Vista, Kips, Homezone and Officezone, Farming Engineering Services, First Capital Bank, Bintel Analytics and Godka Technologies supported Ham with various services.
MNCS Chief Executive Officer Henry Kamata was polite in his response.
“As council we handled a lot of issues that our associations are facing and we do that in a manner that we should uphold the integrity of our associations as we strive to build stronger associations that are running and managing in sport in the country,” Kamata said.
Sports analyst Ojukwu Malunga said the matter can be solved through contact and dialogue.
“It is no use threatening court action. Let the service providers engage council who can deduct the money from Ham’s annual subvention,” Malunga said.
The 34th men’s and 25th women’s editions of Africa Cup for Club Champions (ACCC) drew teams from Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Malawi at the National Hockey Stadium in Blantyre.
In the men’s section, Sharkia of Egypt beat Kenya’s Western Jaguars to retain the accolade while Kampala of Uganda settled for bronze after beating Malawian side Genetrix 3-1.
Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) were crowned ladies champions while Blazers of Kenya finished as runners-up. In a third-place battle, Genetrix lost 10-0 to Delta Queens of Nigeria.
