January 12, 2021
By: Mohamed S. Massaquoi, Strategic Communications Unit
Ministry of Information and Communications
There is no gainsaying that under the previous administration sports and football in particular collapsed and badly needed resuscitation. In the New Direction manifesto of 2018, President Bio and the SLPP promised to revive sports and give it the attention it deserves as a form of youth empowerment and recreation.
Since his ascendancy to State House, President Bio who has earned a reputation for Tok en Do, has breathed life into his words. Sport generally and football in particular has witnessed an unprecedented attention, cash injection and remarkable turnaround.
Under his adroit leadership, and with a visionary eye, the local league was resuscitated with a huge injection of cash over Le4 billion. It is important to know that the local league had been killed by the Ernest Bai Koroma administration since 2011 and was only revived in 2019 in the nascent days of the President Bio administration. The revival of the local league with well-structured systems had attendant consequences as players were put on salaries thereby addressing their bread and butter issue. Economic activities also witnessed a huge leap as each host town or city’s hotels and guest houses were booked, with the transportation industry benefitting from hire of buses whilst ‘okadas’ and ‘kekes’ cashed in on the commuters. Bars and restaurants were not to be left out as sales during match periods peaked in an unprecedented fashion.
Additionally, the rebuilding of the national team, the Leone Stars, took a new dimension as home based players competed with and even bettered the foreign based players, making selection to the national team for the coaches a headache. The clairvoyance of President Bio in reviving sports paid off as Sierra Leone went to the brink of qualification for the World Cup 2022 group stages. However, we qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in a quarter of a century.
Sport being a capital intensive venture and President Bio fully cognizant of that decided to pour more cash into it. He motivated the national team players with cash and parcels of land for their qualification for the Afcon 2022 – a promise that has been long fulfilled.
With qualification for the premier African football competition secured, President Julius Maada Bio’s government switched to preparation. In October 2021, government disbursed about Le 6 billion for Leone Stars’ participation in a series of friendly matches in Morocco, which served as training and preparation of the boys for the big stage.
On Wednesday January 5, President Bio bade farewell to the national team with an impressive motivational package. Being the Tok en Do president, he instructed the immediate disbursement of the necessary funds for Leone Stars’ participation in the Afcon 2022.
On Friday January 7, Ministry of Finance issued a press statement indicating the approval of Le 48.3 billion for the Leone Stars to be staggered over time and stage reached in the competition for Leone Stars. The sum of Le 27.4 billion has already been disbursed for allowances, flight hire and other necessaries.
Other sporting disciplines like Amputee Football, cricket to name but a few have also seen more attention paid to them.
Indeed Sierra Leone is on a new trajectory.
Good Luck Leone Stars!!!