Israel Saria
We have frequently seen change of guard at the National Sports Council since Independence, but it has in most cases turned out to be the same wine in new bottles.
Since the news of the appointment of Dioniz Malinzi to head the Council broke out last week, people are keen to see changes associated with new leadership on board.
The Council does not serve only football as most of the people who don’t exactly know how to differentiate soccer from the rest of the sports categories think.
Most of the Sports Council bosses who chaired the body in the past have been obsessed with soccer to the extent of making a huge oversight over other sports categories.
Of late we have witnessed complete mess as swimmers were stranded and denied opportunity to compete at high profile international meets including the World championship held in Shanghai and the All Africa Games in Maputo.
The swimmers are again on the verge of missing the London Olympics should no efforts be taken to resolve their pending case.
Generally, we are not making progress in sports as a result of a number of factors including lack of practice venues leave alone poor administrations inside the sports bodies.
It seems estate developers have been stronger than local Government authorities to the extent that most open spaces in the urban areas have been consumed by buildings.
The self created shortage of playing grounds for our children is actually the major drawback to our good intention of sports development.
We have a lot of schools in towns and cities that are not supported by playing grounds such that we happen to lose talents that are suppressed.
It is therefore crucial that the NSC must work with a hand in glove cooperation to ensure schools get a share of their play grounds to support sports activities now in the doldrums.
Poor selection of athletes and other sports personalities when it comes to competing at high profile international stages such as the Commonwealth Games and Olympics is another stumbling block to sports proliferation.
This is another window that must be opened because regrettably, Tanzania is trailing far to win medals and excel at these particular events.
The Sports council should also scrutinize sports bodies that have not changed leadership for decades. Constitutions must be examined to make positive changes for some of the sports bodies whose leaders have been bending the by laws to suit their personal interests.
Day in day out, some officials in sports bodies have privatised the leadership positions while are making rotations such that those who take charge are either their personal friends or relatives.
The Council must devise strategies to have a policy that would meet the interest of the majority and find a breakthrough in sports development.
Among East African countries, Tanzania is relatively at the tail in terms of sports development. It has lost reputation as a nation to be reckoned with at international stages.
We have had enough of Council bosses who used the post as figure heads, only coming in the limelight during ceremonies while leaving a heap of unresolved cases at their desks.
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