Kamuzu Stadium status goes to Parliament

Minister of Natural Resources Patricia Wiskes has said the government is open to partnership with the private sector to rehabilitate the condemned Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre. Responding to questions in Parliament on behalf of her Youth, Sports and Culture colleague Alfred Gangata, he said government was willing to engage private investors following concerns over the future of the stadium, which is currently barred from hosting elite football matches by the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) for failing to meet minimum standards. “Government is willing to work with the private sector to bring back Kamuzu Stadium,” she said.

Her remarks came in response to a supplementary question from Blantyre Soche Zingwangwa legislator Fred Kalua (UTM Party) who asked whether the government was considering working with the private sector to improve sports infrastructure, including the Kamuzu Stadium. Rumphi East legislator Florence Shapiro Khimbi (Alliance for Democracy) asked whether the government plans to construct a stadium in Chiweta. In another supplementary question, Nsanje South West parliamenterian Walter Nyamilandu (independent) urged the government to complete construction of BAT Ground and other stadiums pledged to FCB Nyasa Bullets and Mighty Wanderers to help ease the shortage of football venues in Blantyre.

The former FAM president and current Confederation of African Football executive committee member, described BAT Ground as the quickiest project to complete. “I think from where I stand, BAT Stadium is a low-hanging fruit. A lot of funds have been allocated to this project, but we have seen little progress on the ground,” said Nyamilandu.

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Wiskes said the government remained committed to completing the stadium projects promised to the country’s two biggest clubs. “Remember this was proposed by the President [Peter Mutharika] in the run-up to the 2019 Tripartite Elections,” she said. “And we are open to working with the private sector to bring back Kamuzu stadium.” However, Wiskes, herself a former Sports Minister, did not indicate whether the government had decided to demolish Kamuzu Stadium despite a structural engineer’s recommendation, nor did she provide a timeline for the proposed private sector partnership or the completion of the stadium projects.

In his expert opinion, the engineer said the stadium is “falling apart” and would require extensive and expensive interventions to restore it to a safe and acceptable standard. The development also followed a recent agreement by Blantyre-based teams Bullets, Wanderers and Ekhaya to pool resources to complete minot renovations to pave the way for FAM’s reinspection.

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