By Sandau Olekasikwa
Delay by sports bodies in submitting their annual budgets have contributed to the government`s failure to support national teams during training sessions.
Juliana Matagi Yassoda, Assistant Director for Sports Development in the Ministry of Information, Sports and Culture said this when responding to claims that the government left the burden of training national teams on individuals.
Admitting to shortage of funds, she however said the government was willing to support national teams when in training though not fully.
The Assistant Director said that their support is subject to the presentation of respective sports bodies’ budgets in advance so that they are incorporated in the ministerial budget.
“Generally sport is a private entity but when it comes to teams that have qualified for international competitions it`s the duty of the government to take care of them,“ she elaborated. “
Sometimes a team comes with a request for support for the entire six months of planned training, but given limited funds, we won`t release funds for all six months but just two or three months,“ she clarified.
She called on the sports bodies to submit their annual budgets as early as possible to avoid such problems.
