By Fostina Mkandawire

Salima, January 11, Mana: Malawi Anti-Doping Organization (Mado) Board chairperson James Mwenda has been elected Vice-Chairperson for the Africa Zone VI Regional Anti-Doping Organization (Rado), giving the country an upper hand in lobbying for support.

In an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Thursday, Mwenda said the organization held a virtual election in which 10 countries unanimously voted him for the position.

"My term of office is four years from 2025 to 2029. Before this election, I served as Chairperson of the finance and audit committee for eight years," he said.

He expressed joy over the victory and said will be representing the country at the highest regional level, therefore enabling the government to continue intensifying the fight against doping.

“It will be easy to lobby for more support for the country, in addition, this position allows me to interact with senior officials from other international groupings such as the World Anti-Doping Organization (WADA) as well as other Regional organizations in Africa,” he said.

Mwenda said at the moment the country is doing well because there have not been major doping cases reported.

"Despite not having cases, we continue to intensify education programmes with the athletes as well as their officials on the dangers of using performance-enhancing substances in sports," he said.

The newly elected Chairperson for the Regional Anti-Doping Organization V is Fahmy Galant from South Africa who was a vice chair to former Chairperson Dr, Nicholas Musonya from Zimbabwe.

Regional Anti-Doping Organizations (RADOs) are organizations designated by member countries to coordinate and manage delegated areas of their national anti-doping programmes.

The 10 countries in the RADO V are Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Eswatini, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and Ghana