The government has refuted social media reports suggesting that Zambia’s athletes at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham have not been paid their allowances.
Minister of Youth, Sports and Arts, Elvis Nkandu has described as false suggestions that Zambia’s representatives in Birmingham have not received what is due to them.
Nkandu has, in an interview in Lusaka, said that there have been some issues with bank details for some athletes who are yet to receive the allowances although he stated that it will soon be rectified.
“As I’m talking to you, almost everyone has been paid but there was a hiccup somewhere. About 29 athletes were paid out of the 43. The remainder, we had problems with the bank details, some of them were submitting their fathers NRCs and you know the system cannot permit that so we had to tell them to resubmit the bank details and those who are minors, we had channeled the money to their federations, that’s the procedure,” he said.
The Minister also clarified that the athletes are getting paid 80 United States dollars per day and not 50 dollars as some social media reports have suggested.
He said there is a need for Zambians to appreciate because the kind of allowances are unprecedented.
“This is the first time we have given out such an amount of money to any athlete that has gone out of the country.it is the first time we have also prepared our athletes adequately. When you prepare the athletes adequately it means you are sending them to go and compete and we did just that,” Nkandu said.
And Nkandu added that 5,000 United States Dollars has been prepared for the gold winner, $4,000 each for those who minted silver while 3,500 dollars is the reward for the bronze winner.
Boxers Steven Zimba and Patrick Chinyemba both won silver medals while athlete Muzala Samukonga minted gold.
Zambia were ranked 12th overall in the entire gaming showpiece which has since come to an end.
Zambia Swimmer Tilka Pajk took to social media accusing the Government of not paying the athletes.