The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture has started the process of reviewing the National Sports Policy to align it with the current trends.
This comes 19 years after the first National Sports Policy was developed in the country. Speaking during the review meeting at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe Tuesday, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture responsible for administration Misheck Munthali said the review process would help improve sports in the country by among others encouraging mass participation at all levels.
“This is a very important document to develop sports in the country. The current document is outdated as a lot of things have changed so we need to update it to be line with current trends,” he said.
He said the new policy is going to sharpen the sports sector for the next decade. Munthali urged the stakeholders to support the policy so that it is fully implemented at all levels. “As a country, we are famous for developing good documents that are used across the world. Our major problem is lack of implementation,” he said.
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The current National Sports Policy operates under Act of Parliament in 1973. During the review process, the stakeholders brainstormed on several key issues affecting the sports sector. The stakeholders made several recommendations such as creating athlete pathway, job creation, commercialisation of sports and building capacity for sports personnel.
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Match Foundation founder and Executive Director Tadala Kandulu Ngosi said the review process was long overdue. “The current policy is outdated. We need to include issues such as mental health policy and youth policy,” she said.
The review meeting attracted a cross section of stakeholders including sports administrators, coaches, former athletes, security personnel and the media.
