SPORTS COUNCIL FUNDING NEEDS CHANGE – NG’UNI

SUN SPORTS writes NATIONAL Sports Council of Zambia (NSCZ) aspiring board member Mabvuto Ng’uni says Sports Council needs a workable strategic plan that will market and raise enough resources to end total dependency on government grant. Ng’uni said the cries by federations for decent funding can only be achievable if the board had a proper structure to attract sponsorship from the private sector. Speaking in an interview, he said it was well-known that the government grant was limited, therefore once elected on the board this Saturday, he will work together with other members to ensure a strategic plan is implemented. “The grant from Governement is limited so we need to come up with a strategy as a board which is workable to ensure we market and raise enough resources to complement government’s grant and cushion the federations’ challenges,” he said. The Zambia Judo Federation general secretary noted that there was need for the board to help federations come up with a proper plan on sport development if the nation had to record medals in major events. He said it was the board’s responsibility to ensure that federations came up with proper constitutions to avoid wrangles. “There is need to help federations come up with good constitutions to remove lacunas that are today creating wrangles. For NSCZ to have less pressure to sort out these wrangles, it must help associations come up with good constitutions,” he said. Ng’uni expressed passion to uplift the standard of women sports once elected onto the board. He lamented that women have many times missed out on international competitions which they worked hard for to qualify due to lack of funding. “We need a deliberate policy that will motivate the participation of women in sport. Funding is a challenge, but we must come up with a specific measure that will complement the efforts made by the women in qualifying to these competitions, whether football, athletics or judo or whichever sport, we need to give chance,” he said. “Like in judo, we have more chances of women winning medals than men. So we need to help these federations raise resources as a board to support our women,” he said. Over 43 federation will this Saturday elect seven board members and a vice-chairperson for a tenure of three years. Sports minister Emmanuel Mulenga last month announced the appointment of the chairperson Patrick Mutimushi and four others is accordance with the Sports council Act. The Sun