Minister of Sports Enock Chihana had the luxury of flying to Zone VI tournament in Lusaka, Zambia, but he chose to travel by road to save costs.

A reader, only identified as James K, posted on Weekend Times facebook page Tuesday: “I have just seen the minister driving past the border in Mchinji, is he travelling to Lusaka for the games? Please verify and let us know.”

The Malawi Zone VI team left for Lusaka by road on Tuesday. Malawi will be represented by 80 athletes at the tournament where 10 countries are expected to participate. The athletes will compete in swimming, boxing, paralympic, basketball and judo. They will join the usual ambassadors in football, netball, athletics and lawn tennis.

In an interview from Lusaka, Chihana downplayed his preference to travel by road.

“It is normal to travel to Zambia by road. Of course it is cheaper, we could have flown to Johannesburg then connect to Lusaka.

“All the athletes have travelled by road and it quite a good feeling to be part of them from Malawi all the way to Zambia. I just wanted to join the athletes who will be carrying Malawi flag at the Zone VI tournament,” Chihana said.

However, there is mixed reaction on The Weekend Times facebook page as some are applauding the minister while others believe Chihana wanted to score political points.

Draxon Maloya writes that despite making some mistakes in the past Chihana has shown maturity by reverting to his old ways.

“He is sympathising with the athletes who were not adequately funded despite the Ministry of Finance being notified about the tournament long ago. I salute Chihana for that statesmanship,” writer Maloya.

Chicco Mwelekete wrote: “I salute the minister this is a lesson to other ministers”. One Lovemore added; “I hope others in government are taking notes, this is a good gesture”.

Rodrick wrote: “It’s good from the Minister of Sports and other ministers should imitate the good examples led by our beloved minister.”

But Kalikodi Banda says it is a political move that aims at gaining some points.

“It’s called scoring political points … even Zambian President took a taxi trying to impress people but is he still using taxi now?”

McDonald Levison Ndhlovu disagrees: “Scoring political points or other-wise…what the minister did is commendable.”

The Zone VI games are expected to start today. The Malawi Under-20 national netball teams are the defending champions having won gold medal in Swaziland two years ago while the Flames Under-17 would be looking to reclaim the gold medal which they surrendered in Manzini.

Chihana travels to Lusaka by road to reduce costs

Minister of Sports Enock Chihana had the luxury of flying to Zone VI tournament in Lusaka, Zambia, but he chose to travel by road to save costs.

A reader, only identified as James K, posted on Weekend Times facebook page Tuesday: “I have just seen the minister driving past the border in Mchinji, is he travelling to Lusaka for the games? Please verify and let us know.”

The Malawi Zone VI team left for Lusaka by road on Tuesday. Malawi will be represented by 80 athletes at the tournament where 10 countries are expected to participate. The athletes will compete in swimming, boxing, paralympic, basketball and judo. They will join the usual ambassadors in football, netball, athletics and lawn tennis.

In an interview from Lusaka, Chihana downplayed his preference to travel by road.

“It is normal to travel to Zambia by road. Of course it is cheaper, we could have flown to Johannesburg then connect to Lusaka.

“All the athletes have travelled by road and it quite a good feeling to be part of them from Malawi all the way to Zambia. I just wanted to join the athletes who will be carrying Malawi flag at the Zone VI tournament,” Chihana said.

However, there is mixed reaction on The Weekend Times facebook page as some are applauding the minister while others believe Chihana wanted to score political points.

Draxon Maloya writes that despite making some mistakes in the past Chihana has shown maturity by reverting to his old ways.

“He is sympathising with the athletes who were not adequately funded despite the Ministry of Finance being notified about the tournament long ago. I salute Chihana for that statesmanship,” writer Maloya.

Chicco Mwelekete wrote: “I salute the minister this is a lesson to other ministers”. One Lovemore added; “I hope others in government are taking notes, this is a good gesture”.

Rodrick wrote: “It’s good from the Minister of Sports and other ministers should imitate the good examples led by our beloved minister.”

But Kalikodi Banda says it is a political move that aims at gaining some points.

“It’s called scoring political points … even Zambian President took a taxi trying to impress people but is he still using taxi now?”

McDonald Levison Ndhlovu disagrees: “Scoring political points or other-wise…what the minister did is commendable.”

The Zone VI games are expected to start today. The Malawi Under-20 national netball teams are the defending champions having won gold medal in Swaziland two years ago while the Flames Under-17 would be looking to reclaim the gold medal which they surrendered in Manzini.