Thyolo, 2019: Like in the computer age, people need to move with time and technology changes. Slightly over two decades ago, typewriters were famous pieces of equipment one would never miss in government and private company offices. 

Community Centre grounds were also best places to develop sports especially foot and netball in districts across Malawi. Government, then, comes up with a no-turning back decision to construct a stadium in each district council.

Thyolo district council monitoring and evaluation officer, Jossen Tembo, says, “We are constructing a new stadium which will have a capacity of 20,000 seater. The council wants to upgrade the football pitch and running truck to catch up with new standard of sports or games.”

According to the director of planning and development for Thyolo council, Davis Kavalo the old community ground was always congested since the land on which it was built was too small.

 “The land where the old community centre ground was, will be inside the stadium. Five old semidetached houses that belonged to ten prison officers will be demolished and replaced by new ones to pave way for the stadium,” says Kavalo.

Considering the land shortage at Thyolo Boma, the council secretariat made negotiations with chiefs, Members of parliament and ward councilors to have the stadium where initially there was a Community Centre ground.

Contractor constructing the stadium is DEC Construction Limited. The site foreman, Gregory Chirwa says the project was to be concluded in one and half years (January 2018 to June, 2020).

The stadium among others will help develop youth sports’ talents as they will be exposed to the country’s best players. It will also boost the council’s revenue collected from business persons such as restaurant operators that will be accommodated in the facility especially in the VIP section.