Africa-Press – Malawi. The Local Organising Committee (Loc) of the 2022 African Union Sports Council Region 5 Youth Games owes some suppliers over K5 billion. This comes three months after the Region 5 Games were held from December 2-11 in Lilongwe. Malawi News Sport has discovered that some suppliers have lost patience with the committee and have threatened unspecified actions.
The suppliers provided several services including food, transportation, accommodation and equipment before and the Region 5 Youth Games. Since December last year, the suppliers have failed to get their money despite several reminders. The suppliers, who spoke on strict condition of anonymity, said the delay has affected their business.
“We have been going to the Loc office but no concrete answer. All the time, we get excuses that they are still waiting for funds from the government. But we are surprised that some of our colleagues were already paid,” one of the suppliers said.
In addition, the majority of the volunteers have not been paid their daily allowances for the services during the event. The volunteers were entitled to K20,000 daily allowance for a period of the weeks.
However, details indicate that the amount was reduced to K10,000 per day due to lack of funds. One of the volunteers claimed that Loc owes him about K400,000 in daily allowances.
“Honestly, we worked like slaves. Imagine, no food and no transport money. But we have been waiting for our money for more than three months’ now,” the source said.
Loc Chairperson Dennis Mombera admitted that the committee owes suppliers over K5 billion. “Yes, we owe many suppliers. We are waiting for government’s funding beginning April. Our plan is to pay them all,” Mombera said.
According to Mombera, the Loc offices will be officially closed after paying all the suppliers and service providers. Malawi Government invested K13 billion to host the games which attracted 10 countries.
However, participating nations paid participation fees for their athletes and officials. Apart from K13 billion investment, the government spent over K20 billion in constructing news sports facilities and upgrading existing structures. The games offered a business opportunity for both small and large scale businesses. Loc engaged over 400 volunteers for the event.
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