Govt: Swimming needs committed leadership

Dar es Salaam. The government has urged swimming stakeholders in the country to elect committed leaders in the forthcoming Tanzania Swimming Association (TSA) election scheduled to take place on August 26 in the city.

The government also said it will not hesitate to drop candidates who do not meet qualifications. The call was made by National Sports Council (NSC) acting secretary general Alex Nkenyenge during a special interview with The Citizen.

Nkenyenge said as TSA election supervisors, they would like to see members elect committed leaders who will ensure the body achieves maximum development.

He said swimming held a huge potential in the country and would require leaders who would be ready to invest their time and passion for the sport.

“Our aim is to see the game developing...but you cannot attain maximum development if you elect uncommitted leaders. As the government, we need to change and vote for committed candidates to usher in a new era,” said Nkenyenge.

He explained that there was a tendency by voters to choose candidates who they knew were not capable, but later complained when the game failed to meet their goals.

“We have supervised amendments to the constitution and now it is our task to supervise the election. But we are not voters; we have to call on them to choose leaders who are competent,” he said.

However, picking and returning nomination forms by candidates has been going on very slowly. The exercise will come to a close tomorrow at 5pm.

The positions being contested are those for chairperson, vice chairperson, secretary general, treasurer, technical director and director of Education and Development.

The exercise opened on August 3, following a decision taken by the government through the National Sports Council (NSC) to supervise the swimming activities in the country after leadership chaos.

For more than a month, the swimming body has been under the supervision of NSC after the expiration of the Interim Committee’s term, which was endorsed by the emergency meeting held at the International School of Tanganyika (IST) in Upanga, Dar es Salaam.

Meanwhile, information received by The Citizen yesterday indicates that 90 per cent of the body’s interim committee members have been proposed by some swimming stakeholders to contest for the vacant TSA seats.

According to an impeccable source, Imani Dominick who was the chairman has been requested to contest the post of chairman, while Inviolata Itatiro has been requested to contest the secretary general’s post.

Also on the list is Anna Shanalingigwa (Treasurer-cum-Accountant) and Amina Mfaume who has been requested to vie for the post of technical director.

However, swimming stakeholders who were also requested to pick nomination forms are Asmah Hilal who has been requested to contest for the post of vice chairperson and Donald Kweka for the post of director of Education and Development.

The source said that the stakeholders were looking for seven qualifications that would help in the game development.