Nankhumwa ramps up support for sports

MALAWI: Kondwani Nankhumwa, the legislator for Mulanje Central, the DPP vice president for the south and leader of opposition in Parliament on Sunday afternoon, awarded Nachiwale football and Kachere netball teams with a trophy each and a sum of cash money as a prize of reaching into the finals.

Nankhumwa launched a football and netball tournament for primary learners in his constituency for 13 schools on 7th November 2021 at Chinsitu ground to inspire them to achieve anything despite being at a primary level.

During the finals, Nachiwale defeated Nalipiri 2-1 and Nyengeni was defeated by Kachere 8-12, putting the two at the top of both sides.

Nankhumwa told Africa Brief that he is delighted with the energy displayed by both teams prior to and during the finals.

"It took them several months to complete what they did today. It's so impressive because, since November 7th, 2021, the boys and girls have been doing an excellent job of competing against each other in order to make it to the finals,” he stated.

"The first football team received a trophy and K400,000, the second runner up received K300,000, the third runner up received K200,000, the last one received K100,000, and the first netball team received a trophy and K350,000, the second runner up received K250,000, the third runner up received K150,000, and the last one received K100,000."

He also stated that the secondary school bonanza will be held in the next three weeks, followed by the ordinary trophy, which occurs every year in his constituency, and invited the winners to lunch with him at his home in Lucheza on Saturday, May 21, 2022.

Cryton Tambala, the Chief Education Officer at Mulanje District Council, stated that he is very happy and grateful for what Nankhumwa did because the tournament helped the learners concentrate and prevented them from engaging in bad activities such as drinking beer, smoking weed, stealing, and gambling, to name a few.

Both top team captains and coaches stated that they do not take it for granted because it will change a lot of things and that they will make sure to keep the trophy safe and work hard in class, as the majority of them are expected to sit for the Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE) this year.

The tournament's total budget was around K10 million kwacha. Nankhumwa purchased 26 sets of football and netball jerseys for 13 schools, as well as over 78 balls, two trophies, and a K2 million cash prize, to name a few.