For the first time since attaining multiparty democracy in Malawi, this week our parliamentarians meeting in the Capital City did something great and beyond my expectation, taking to task Sports Minister, Grace Chiumia, over dwindling funding to sports.
The parliamentarians were irked with the less funding directed to the Flames and Malawi Queens. Both have been allocated a meagre K34 million in the 2016 National Budget, an amount that cannot even buy a decent single twin cab for the minister.
In her usual stunt, Chiumia managed to duck questions and she was economical with the truth in some of her responses to the questions in the august House.
Claiming that the Queens and the Flames are well-funded when we all know the myriad financial problems they are sailing in, is annoying. And it is the most myopic logic I have never come across for a quarter-of-the-century I have been in these trenches.
If allocating K34 million to big entities such as the Queens and the Flames, is what Chiumia thinks is enough funding, then it speaks volumes of the calibre of the sports minister we have.
Her statements in the august House were annoying and traumatising to some of us who take sports as our lifeline.
It was sad that in her right frame of mind, the minister, instead of taking advantage to lobby the National Assembly to increase sports funding, she tormented us in such a cruel way and left us in a cobweb of utter confusion.
Amid a storm of tears we accepted that both the Flames and our much pampered Queens will have to budget their engagements on a meagre K34 million.
It is sad that cruel decisions are being made against sports when it is supposed to be our only uniting factor, especially in a country whose citizenry has lost hope in life.
The agony we normally suffer in our silence is being amplified when such careless statements are in the House which is supposed to define the future of the country’s sports and when they are made by the person who is supposed to be providing a silver lining to our gloom.
When I listen to Chiumia speak, I accept with humility that those beautiful sights and sounds, we used to enjoy in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, when fans could cheer their players with passion, have indeed come to an end.
I anticipated our so called sports minister to show unquestionable loyalty to sports by articulating problems facing sports with honesty.
To pretend that all is well when the writing is on the wall that there is doom and gloom in sports arena is absolutely ridiculous.
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