By Joe Mwansa Lombe Kaluba

Zambia will be hosting the Under 20 Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Tournament in Lusaka and Ndola later this month through to March.

Hosting a tournament is not only about winning the Cup but also making sure training venues, hotels, transport system and publicity elements/logistics are all in place.

A successful sports gala like the U20 puts you in pole position to host future major tournaments. Say the Main AFCON(s).

A football enthusiast friend noted that out of ten people he asked only one was aware of this( AFCON U20) and had just known it a day before.

“Too bad publicity is an issue. I went to get views in the streets early this week just to see how well people know about this tournament…”

In his opinion he said that by now there should have been adverts on all media platforms that is electronic and print. Also billboards like what happened three months before the 2016 general elections .

I am with this munzanga wakamina (my friend) because next time we bid to host we will fail on publicity.

To support this statement another friend who works and lives in Ndola posted in my WhatsApp group.

“Joe it’s about 15 days to the start of this tournament…if you walk around the central business district of Ndola there is nothing to show that the city will be hosting a big event like AFCON. ”

And a check in Lusaka even at the hosting Stadium there is nothing to show that we are hosting anything.

Uko! We just need guess work to know that there is the AFCON U20.

The other point which someone alluded to in one of the social media groups( WhatsApp) I posted the question ” U20 AFCON 2017: Is Zambia Ready?” Was the issue of health.

This fellow noted that

health facilities have to be constructed near the sports facilities. The question is how far is the neatest hospital from the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola or Lusaka’s Heroes Stadium? We do have the mobile hospitals right?

Anyhow, looking at the above are we ready to host this tournament.

Don’t say Boma iyanganepo. We have the National Sports Council of Zambia(NSCZ) and the Football Association of Zambia(FAZ).

I think all the stakeholders should help Zambia to have a successful tournament. Those in power at Football House should bring people in the organisation cycle to see to it that we host a great event. This is sport’s tourism people a lot of money can be raised if everything is in place.

That Question again: Is Zambia ready? What’s your take?

For me Ba Andrew Kamanga bayanganepo(looking into it) LOL

Author is a PhD candidate-Political, Gender and Transnational Studies at the International Postgraduate Centre (IPC), Faculty of Social Sciences at Goethe University Frankfurt