Sports Ministry engages Southern Region
October 11, 2016 By Sahr Morris Jr.
With barley three weeks to the start of the country’s national sports conference, officials of the National Sports Council (NSC) on Monday engaged sports stakeholders in a two-day consultative meeting.
The meeting, which will climax today at the Bo Sports Stadium, was designed to allow stakeholders from the Southern Region to have an input in the ministry’s drive in reposition sports in the country.
According to Deputy Director of Sports, Alphan Koker, there has been a dramatic change in the status of sports in the country over the years as he puts it ‘amateurism’ has given way to “professionalism”.
He said: “The actual purpose of the two-day meeting is for the regional sports stakeholders to identify and discuss innovative ideas that will impact the reposition of sports for sustainable development.”
Koker also admits that: “The National Sports Council Act of 1964 is absolutely outdated and it’s provisions could no longer adequately face and address the challenges of the 21st century sports event management; therefore the need for the 1964 Act to be reviewed and amended accordingly cannot be over-emphasised.
“The Ministry of Sports intends to reactivate and strengthen the National Sports Council and to transform it according to international best practices, so that sporting programmes could be properly planned, implemented, supervised and monitored with a view of raising the standard of sports everywhere in the country”.
Yesterday’s meeting featured the overview on the Service Charter of the Ministry of Sports, Evidence-based Stakeholders Engagement and the Impact of Sports on Sustainable Development.
Stakeholders from Bo, Moyamba, Pujehun and Bonthe, Sierra Leone Police, the Military, School representatives and media houses all attended the consultative meeting.