By Sarah Munthali
Mchinji, Mana: A Lilongwe-based businessman Owen Malijani, who owns an air conditioning company, told multitudes of soccer zealots at Waliranji trading center in Mchinji of his plans to erect a sports complex comprising a stadium and other sporting facilities.
Malijani was speaking over the week end during a bonanza he organized between Waliranji Football Club and NKhwazi Medicals as well as Nkonkha and Waliranji netball teams.
Malijani said his interest has been sparked by the fact that, despite Mchinji having sports zealots, the district currently does not have requisite sports facilities to help boost local talent.
He said his main goal is to give a platform to budding talent in the district to showcase their potential in the sporting field.
“Mchinji district has sports loving people but it is painful that less effort is being put to invest toward sports infrastructure. Secondly, the district has so many talented people in various sporting disciplines but lack a proper platform to be seen.
“So, my project comes to bring to light such hidden treasure in the sporting field in Mchinji,” he said.
Malijani said very soon he will be engaging technical people to put the project into shape and expects the project to be done within a year.
On his part, Mchinji District Sports Officer, Martin Panyanja thanked Maliljani for coming up with the initiative, saying the development will help boost the sports sector in the district.
“Currently Mchinji does not have sporting facilities with good standards, and that has been one of the major challenges in our efforts to develop sports as a profession in the district.
” So, with the coming of Malijani, if fulfilled, the facility will help improve our sporting standards in the district and we welcome all that may have similar initiatives,” said Panyanja.
Traditional Authority Mavwere expressed his satisfaction with the initiative, saying it will help youths in his area to refrain from promiscuous behavior which has led to high rates of child marriages and teen pregnancies in the area.
“I am happy that we are going to have sports facilities in this area. So far, we are grappling with child marriages and pregnancy. The initiative will help our youths attach curiosity to sporting activities, as such they will less likely engage in sexual frivolities,” he said.
Eighteen year old Naomi, a standard eight school dropout and netball player said the facility will help young people like her use their skills seriously to earn a living.
“I feel that since the facility is coming in our area, we will find it a reason to work harder in our sporting endeavors to reach a professional level,” she said.
Malijani intends to erect the proposed sports complex at his private land lying along the Mchinji-Lilongwe M12 road at Waliranji trading center in the district.
