Mwanza darts officials oppose Tada suspension

The tug of war between the Tanzania Darts Association (Tada) and Mwanza Darts Association (Mda) has taken a new twist after the Lake Zone region’s body opposed a two-year suspension imposed by the former on Mda’s vice-chairman, Prosper John.

In a letter issued by Tada chairman Gesase Waigama to John last week, the former said the Mda official has been banned from conducting administrative duties and playing the sport in the specified period after he had written the deputy minister for Information, Youth, Culture and Sports, Juma Nkamia, requesting the latter to order postponement of the National Darts Club Championship, penned for August 28-31 in Mbeya.

Waigama said apart from failing to hand Tada a copy of the letter to the minister, John deliberately requested for the postponement with clear knowledge that the event is in the national darts governing body’s calendar.

John also circulated the letter to different people with a view to inciting a boycott of the Mbeya tournament.

Circulating the letter to people that are not involved in the matter, Waigama said, was deemed as an attempt to tarnish the image of the minister, given that the letter’s recipients cannot take any action against the minister.

The Tada official said John is alleged to have also sent the letter to Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL), which has been sponsoring several tournaments organized by the national darts governing body.

The move, according to Waigama, amounted to indiscipline as it aimed at putting Tada to shame.

Once the letter had been sent to the minister, Waigama said, the matter should have remained confidential.

John, however, told The Guardian he has not accepted the ban because he does not know the offence he is said to have committed.

“Mda officials convened a meeting after I had received the letter and decided that we will inform Nkamia of the suspension and also request him to respond to the suggestions we had previously sent him,” John said.

The whole issue, according to John, stemmed from Mda’s refusal to take part in recent Tada tournament for what the Mwanza darts body termed as failure by the national governing body to operate professionally.

A committee was then formed to inquire on reasons for Mda to distance itself from Tada events and the committee was to reconcile the two parties.

“We (Mda) issued several demands that were to be met before we settled our differences with Tada. We, among other issues, wanted Tada to issue statement on expenditure of sponsorship,” he said.

He said Mda was expected to meet Tada officials and discuss the matter during the last year’s National Darts Club Championship in Morogoro but the national darts governing body’s officials requested that the meeting should be held during this year’s tournament in Mbeya.

“Nkamia attended the Mbeya tournament, he had the opportunity to listen to issues that were to be discussed in the meeting between Mda officials and their Tada counterparts and he felt there was a need for intervention on the matter,” John said.

“In a letter we (Mda) wrote to Nkamia, we requested that the meeting should be held in Dodoma because Tada members from Arusha, Mwanza and Kagera can easily reach there. We also suggested that the meeting should take place on August 23 instead of the previously scheduled date of August 29, so that we can participate in the Uganda Open tournament, which was slated for September 5-7,” he said.