Few years back finance has always been the problem of sporting disciplines in Sierra Leone. This happened mostly when national teams of the various sports want to compete in international competitions.
In this case, the only team that most times gets funds easily is the senior national male football team. This hinders the development of several sports in the country. To find ways to minimize these problems in the sports, the past government decided to change the old sports act under the National Sports Council to National Sports Authority with drastic changes in the acts.
But taking over from the past government, President Bio whose key point in his manifesto was to develop sports makes no delay in appointing Board Members for NSA.
Dr. Kenneth Brima was appointed as the Executive Director of the Authority. The Board members start work as soon as the parliament approved them.
They started by addressing all the sports Associations in the country about the new act. They later released an application forms for all the sports to register with NSA as the Sports Council is no more.
The various sports were also asked to adopt some of the acts in their constitutions. After all the above the Board Members paid a courtesy call on President Bio at the State House together with the Sports Minister Ibrahim Nyelenkeh.
At State House, Nyelenkeh while presenting the board members to the president, thanked President Bio for appointing proactive and competent Sierra Leoneans as board members for the new NSA.
He assured the president that the NSA and the Sports Ministry are like twins and are working in one accord to develop sports in the country.
Responding to the Minister, President Bio said Sierra Leone was once known for sports prowess in all disciplines. This, he said is what his New Direction wants to revive in all aspect of human endeavors in the country.
He thanked the Board for their resilient effort in rebranding sports. He challenged them to work with the various sports to scout the great talents in the country who needs nurture.
The above task, he said is with the Sports Ministry and the NSA. He assured them that as a government they are going to fight and make sure NSA get not only the moral support, but also the financial support to enable them to move things. As his statement is always a policy statement, most sporting disciplines believe financial constrains will be minimized this time.
