Twimepoki Mangani
Lilongwe, December 17, Mana: Minister of Sports, Uchizi Mkandawire has expressed gratitude for the support rendered to the Ministry of Sports in the preparation and execution of the 2022 Lilongwe, African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games.
He made the remarks on Friday on the sidelines of the AUSC Ordinary Council of Ministers Meeting, an occasion that marked the symbolic transfer of Chairmanship from Malawi to the next hosts Namibia led by Minister, Agnes Tjongarero.
Outgoing Chairperson, Mkandawire highlighted Malawi’s role in aligning to resolutions drawn from the meeting which among others includes investing in school sports.
“It was a challenging task to host the games but I must admit we received tremendous help from the President, with resources needed in preparation and readiness for the games in terms of the infrastructure and other investments therefore we are proud to have succeeded and we look forward to Namibia who take up the challenge.”
“A few years ago the country initiated a program for schools called the Malawi youth games, which are implemented by Malawi school sports association with support from Malawi nationalcouncil for sports and we believe we are going in the right direction with hopes of up scalingvarious sports disciplines in schools,” the Minister added.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for AUSC, Stanley Mutoya hailed outgoing Chairperson for his exceptional leadership that stirred the council in the right direction.
He outlined some of the outstanding points from the meeting that took place from December 14to 15, 2023, having resolved constitutional matters as well as announcing dates for the next games.
“The Ministers gave an applause for Mkandawire which shows they were very satisfied with hisleadership as he was able to drive a number of initiatives, like the HEART28 (Heart,Excellence, Agility, Resource, & Transformation) strategy, ensuring the games remain vibrant as well as adopting the Silver Jubilee concept for AUSC with celebrations occurring in different countries in 2024.
“One of the key outcomes from the meeting is that the 2024 & 11th edition of the Region 5 Youth Games will be hosted by Namibia. The Council has decided to defer the games by five months hence they will be held in May 2025 because the sports calendar in 2024 is packed with AFCON, African Games, Olympics and Paralympics,” Mutoya disclosed.
According to the final communiqué from the Council’s meeting it was determined among other things that the significance of the Region 5 Youth Games as a flagship product should be strengthen while congratulating Malawi for delivering the Games even under difficult circumstances.
