Malawi: Minister of Youth and Sports Uchuzi Mkandawire went to inspect the Karonga Stadium after several locals reported poor state of the facility. The facility had reported issues in drainage which resulted in the stadium being flooded.
Acting on the intel received through the organization, Minister of Youth and Sports took the initiative to visit the stadium. He met the Stadium Manager for Karonga Stadium Wilson Ngwira on Friday and discussed the issue.
At this point, the stadium manager informed the minister of sports that the farming activities in the vicinity of the stadium are one of the contributing factors for the state of the facility. The farming activities cause damage to the drainage systems and result in flooding.
The stadium facility was opened in 2018 and has been serving the people of the community. During the visit of the minister, Ngwira informed him that the stadium has water ponds outside the facility.
These water ponds are used to drain water from the facility’s drainage system. Unfortunately, the ponds are full of silt because local people are cultivating rice around the ponds.
The stadium was also constructed on a water-logged site. He further clarified that Karonga ground water has high iron contents resulting in quick corrosion of iron poles.
Finally, he noted that the community members have also been vandalising toilets, wire fences and electrical equipment. Responding to these issues, Minister Uchuzi Mkandawire  said with decentralisation it means Karonga District Council owns the stadium.
Accordingly, the stakeholders need to engage community members to solve some of the problems. The district announced that the issues  and use the revenue generated from the stadium to keep the facility in good shape.
“If the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) bans the stadium from hosting games, teams, community members and even the district council will be negatively affected hence we need to ensure that the stadium is always in good condition,”Mkandawire said.