Directorate of sports in zerosIt is number-crunching time for sports directorate as the balance sheet goes into the red. No need for sport conference now – Katamba The current budget cuts imposed by the finance ministry have had serious impact on the operations of the Directorate of Sport, forcing the leadership to pull the plug on all its activities.The public on several occasions has suggested holding a sport indaba to iron out challenges facing sport in the country. However, the Director of Sports, Shivute Katamba did not think it was necessary.
In an interview with Sport Wrap recently, Katamba pointed out that Namibia is on track with the implementation of the outcomes from the 2014 sport conference.
“This time around we are on track, the outcomes of the sport conference will not be implemented at once because we do not have funds but we have already started implementing the outcomes.
“So I don’t see the need for us to have a sport conference in the next five years but, we can always design our strategic plan,” he said.
He also indicated that the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC) will be doing a presentation on the final document with the sport conference outcomes to the sport ministry today (Monday).
“The sport conference outcomes and the categorisation of sport codes have been finalised and which we are implementing, even the budget review is one of the outcomes from that conference,” he said, urging people to be patient. “And, as funds allow, we will definitely tackle all the issues,” Katamba assured.
He further indicated that after the documents are endorsed by the minister, he wants copies of the outcomes to be distributed to the public so that it can question the directorate and sports commission if planned activities are not carried out.
Budget
The recent cuts experienced by the ministry of sports have hit hard the sport directorate.
According to Katamba, although the ministry of finance had warned the ministry about the budget cuts, the sports ministry did not anticipate that the cuts would be that heavy.
“We were caught off guard after the first cut so, we did not expect more cuts and it has affected a lot of our programmes and the bad part of it is that, we are not consulted. Finance just cut,” Katamba moaned.
He added that the Ministry of Finance has also indicated that there will be another budget cut in the next financial year.
“The Ministry of Finance has already indicated to us that our budget will be cut so that means that in the next financial year we should expect another dive, and that in the third year is when they have indicated that there might be some positive trends and we will start picking up,” Katamba said.
He explained that the cuts were “disappointing” because the N$12 million that was supposed to push them to the end of the current financial year has all been taken away.
“We were only left with very little, about N$5 million which will cater for the regional five games because if we don’t go, then the punishment will even be more than what we have to spend now.
“When people talk about the punishment that comes from different competitions, it can hit you and the country very hard. So, after losing that N$12 million, as a directorate, I thought our N$35 000 was there. But, I was talking to my financial advisor. That money is gone, so literally I am sitting with a zero balance in my budget.
“What would you do? You would have to call all the programmes off, so it is not something that we expected. We did not anticipate that it would be so hard. So, for now, unless miracles happen, there is nothing that can happen in sport, all our planned programmes have been called off,” he explained.
Awarding of Paralympics medallists
Meanwhile, the 2016 Paralympics Games medallists are still waiting to present their medals to the Head of State and hear how government will reward them for their achievements.
Katamba indicated that he had a meeting with the permanent secretary in the sports ministry to discuss the issue about rewarding the athletes and when the directorate plans to do so.
“We are saying that the money that we planned for the medal winners was coming from the N$12 million which was taken. So, we can’t really do otherwise but we discussed with the sport commission, and a letter has been written to the ministry of finance to ask if they can allow the sport commission to borrow the amount that we have requested and we are waiting for an answer,” Katamba said.
He added that once the directorate gets the amount of money needed, the athletes will receive their rewards and the athletes will be called in by the directorate to update them on the latest developments.
“We even planned to call the athletes in and inform them of what is happening. So, soon as they are back from the north, we will do so. They should just be patent with us, while we are negotiating with finance and whatever reward it will be, the guide will receive the same reward as the athlete,” he said.
Administration issues
Katamba has slammed the poor planning by sport administrators, stressing that administrators have to learn how to plan. “One thing we need to know is that, every time you (sport administrators) need money you just come to the government to take and go.”
“Like the Namibia Premier League (NPL) issue, they came to tell us about their need in the middle of the financial year, while we are experiencing these cuts.
“People should stop thinking that whenever you need money you can just come and government will just give,” he stressed.
He further warned administrators to stop threating to go to the minister or the president when their requests do not get favourable answers.
“I am sitting here advising the minister on sport issues so, if I am stranded then I will go to the PS and together we will brief the minister.
“So, as sport administrators we have to change our way of doing things and plan better. This football thing has taught us that planning is crucial,” Katamba said.
KAINO NGHITONGO