Africa-Press – Namibia. THE term of the interim board of the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) has received a two-month extension.
Board members’ time in office was due to expire this month, following their appointment in June.
This has now been extended to February 2023.
On Friday, the NSC board’s chairperson, Nicky Kamwi Mbaimbai, told Desert Radio they have not completed their mandate.
“Achieving the mandate spelled out is close to impossible. What we’ve done is to identify some key issues and lay the foundation to have these issues resolved,” he said.
“These issues will be resolved by the substantive board once it’s appointed by the [relevant] authority.”
Mbaimbai said some of the board members are permanent and will stay on beyond the interim period of eight months.
Also on the board are Simon Uirab, Adelheid Jacobs, Percy Xoagub, Turky Tiisa Shifotoka-Ndashiiva, Linekela Nanyeni, and Monica Shapwa.
“They will have institutional memories to pass whatever has been identified and discussed on to the future substantive board,” the NSC chairperson said.
“I would not say we have resolved a lot of issues now. The task was basically to study and find out what the shortcomings are by pointing them out as we go forward, and finding solutions on how to address those issues,” he said.
The interim board was able to address minor issues, Mbaimbai said.
However, fundamental and structural matters require more time and resources to get around.
The major issue is securing adequate funding for the sport agency and umbrella bodies to fully implement programmes. This is tied to general poor governance and the prioritisation of sport codes, the NSC chair said.
He said sport codes are indeed struggling financially in the absence of the annual grant which used to be allocated.
“We need to find a way to get additional funding and see how the corporate sector can come on board in the development of sport facilities,” Mbaimbai said.
“How do we leverage collaboration between different federations – especially the ones in close proximity in terms of what they do?” he asked.
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