By Bridget Mwale
Rumphi, Mana: Rumphi Stadium Task Force has presented a petition to Rumphi District Council demanding the resignation of councillors and transfers of some council officials
Some of the council officials to be on transfer include the District Commissioner (DC), Director of Planning and Development (DPD), Director of Public Works (DPW) and Director of Administration (DOA) for failing to improve Rumphi stadium for the Super League games.
Chairperson for the Task Force, Happy Chirambo Thursday said they want the council to address the challenges before the commencement of the Super League.
He said Rumphi United Football Club should be able to use the stadium as their home ground and not play the games away from Rumphi transferring the revenues meant for the district to another district.
“As a task force, we are not happy with the speed the project was progressing. Very soon Super League is expected to start and if we are not getting any response from the council, on November 26, 2021 we shall protest,” Chirambo said.
DOA for Rumphi Council, Thomas Mwafongo explained to Malawi News Agency (Mana) that there are a number of projects the council was working on among which is the stadium project.
“As a council, we have many projects at hand which cannot be done at once, there is need to give space to each project for a successful completion. We know how important the stadium is to the council and the people of Rumphi, we are working on that for the better of the council and the community at large,” he said.
Mwafongo said that as a council they are not sleeping, but they are waiting for bills of quantity from Super League of Malawi (Sulom) which the council cannot work without.
He said after a communication from Sulom, we surely are to give the project a new face, the bills of quantity will guide the council on areas that need attention and a Full Council is meeting this month to approve the budget.
Over K 10 million was allocated for the project but the money is not enough depending on the resources required for the completion of the project as prices might have gone up, and there is need for enough time when working on projects to avoid substandard work to again raise questions.
The project commenced in 2017 and this was not the first petition as they received one from Rumphi Youth Hub, the second one from Rumphi United Football Club and the recent one is from Rumphi Stadium Task Force, demanding the council to work at a speed on the project completion.