One of the noticeable omissions from President Joseph Nyuma Boakai’s State of the Nation address (SONA) on 27 January at the Capitol Building in Monrovia was the verbal and written omission of “youth and sports (YAS)”.
The Ministry of Youth & Sports (MYS), headed by Cllr. Jeror Cole Bangalu, is the government’s arm responsible for the coordination of YAS activities thru federations and associations.
Since 2006 (I have not seen previous addresses), SONAs have contained at least a sentence or paragraph on YAS as it forms an integral part of the whole.
I am fully aware and can understand that it is not an easy job for someone (standing) to deliver a speech for more than two hours least to talk about an octogenarian president.
What should have happened, as was done in the past with then Presidents Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and George Manneh Weah, was for the writers to prepare a condensed version for delivery (which must be announced by the president after he concludes the first greetings) and later publish the extended version.
I read the published speech on the Executive Mansion’s Facebook page and saw portions, which weren’t read during the program.
So I am still wondering why those thematic areas were omitted.
Sports developments
The national county sports meet is Liberia’s biggest sporting event organized by the government (through MYS and Ministry of Internal Affairs) with funds from the government and sponsorships from partners.
The month-long tournament creates short term jobs for many persons, including players, technical staffs, journalists and marketing and public relations consultants.
So how did the speechwriters woefully omit a cardinal deliverable?
The 2024/2025 county meet should have started on 15 December but was pushed to 12 January due to financial and logistical constraints.
I have fundamental issues about the organization, players’ participation and its aftermath in terms of legacy projects or long term benefits but it is what it is and should have therefore been mentioned.
For the first time, Liberia hosted an Africa Tour 2024 in Robertsports, Grand Cape Mount County from 23-28 May.
Under the newly-proposed Liberia Surfing Association and in collaboration with the Africa Surfing Confederation, the ‘Surf to Rise’ competition assembled 60 elite surfers from Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Cape Verde and Liberia.
It was both a sporting and touristic event with the legislature, having passed the Liberia National Tourism Authority Act.
Abigail Karyah and Georgina Sackie grabbed global headlines at the 2024 Chess Olympiad (45th World Cup) in Budapest, Hungary in September.
Abigail won eight out of 11 matches, including seven in a row, with a FIDE Master (third highest title) conferred on her by the International Chess Federation through the African Chess Confederation.
Georgina also received the same title following six wins from 11 matches.
Liberia were ranked sixth place at the 23rd African Athletics Championships held at the Japoma Sports Stadium in Douala, Cameroon from 21-26 June 2024 with five medals (three gold, a silver and bronze).
Joseph Fahnbulleh, Ebony Morrison, Emmanuel Matadi, John Sherman, Destiny Smith-Barnett, Maia McCoy, Annie Nabwe, Akeem Sirleaf, Jabez Reeves, Symone Darius and Thelma Davies represented Liberia.
Joseph won gold in the 100 meters and 200 meters while Ebony won gold in the 100 meter hurdles.
Liberia featured a male and female teams at the 2024 FIBA-Africa under-18 basketball championship in Abidjan, Ivory Coast from 29 July to 5 August.
We also hosted the FIBA-Africa Zone III women’s basketball championship with seven clubs from Ivory Coast, Benin, Nigeria and Liberia at the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) sports complex gymnasium in Paynesville from 5-10 November 2024.
It was the first time Liberia participated in and hosted an international
basketball tournament since 2014.
Liberia didn’t qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations as was predicted and will also not qualify for the 2026 World Cup at end of the qualifiers in October.
Senegal eliminated Liberia from the 2024 African Nations Championships 4-1 on aggregate on 28 December.
Football is our number one sport but the Liberia Football Association (LFA), under Nigerian-born Mustapha Ishola Raji, is short of ideas on how to improve the game.
The LFA has been engulfed in scandals, including conflicting accounts from Raji on the cost of the Fifa-legacy headquarters project and lack of ambulances at league venues as was evidenced when Black Man Warriors midfielder Amara Kamara died on 22 January from injuries sustained in a 3-3 draw with Bea Mountain at the D. Tweh sports pitch in New Kru Town on 8 January.
Raji admitted to a financial crisis, which has plagued his administration, when he foolishly and bizarrely asked clubs to use their subventions to buy ambulances at a meeting on 4 December 2024.
Liberia’s Fifa rankings have plummeted like the United States dollars against the Liberian dollars.
Women’s football, which took off from the runway in 2019, has since crashed as Raji, in his desperate bid for a second term, targeted his critics thus leading to key players going into retirements.
Raji’s new “weapon of mass destruction” is to blame the government for not supporting the national teams as was the case when he verbally clashed with Bangalu on ELBC’s Super Sports program on 14 December 2024.
Youth developments
President Boakai did propose a national youth service program and highlight the training of “more than 10,000 young people in digital literacy programs nationwide” as we struggle with high unemployment.
MYS has been doing some good jobs around youth developments through
technical and vocational education training (TVET) with 1,949 persons, having benefitted from the 13th training cycle at the Monrovia Vocational
Training Center.
They include 418 in mechanics, 427 in building trade and 960 in electrical works.
Sixty-five (65) TVET trainers underwent specialized trainings in Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Zambia through sponsorship arrangements from the European Union in additional to local training of 10 pioneer trainers in TVET pedagogy.
Senate Protemp Nyonblee Karnga-Lawrence presented 25 sewing machines (valued at US$5,000) to Business & Domestic Occupation Training Center (BDOTC) of MYS on 28 January.
Nyonblee’s donation was in fulfillment of a promise made when she served as guest speaker at the 18th graduation in which 118 trainees across baking, tailoring, beauty culture (including manicure and pedicure), housekeeping and braiding and weaving received toolkits.
A hospitality center and modern facility for BDOTC at the SKD sports complex, with funds from the European Union, are nearing completion.
And then the government plans to renovate a youth agriculture training center in Bensonville, Montserrado County.
The House of Representatives passed a 2024 TVET Commission Act in June pending a Senate concurrence.
In what resembles a national program, 140 cadets from Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Nimba and Lofa Counties were trained and deployed in public and private institutions for job readiness and possible employment.
With support from the United Nations Development Program, each cadet will receive US$600 at after three months.
In what has been described as a national security threat, MYS succeeded in transitioning 127 at-risk youths or ‘Zogoes’ (including four children) from rehabilitation to recovery.
Sixty seven (67) targeted homeless clients were settled in homes with one year rent paid and 60 out of 75 have improved in their economic livelihood while 18 out of 75 are utilizing skills acquired during rehabilitation.
These are small figures but significant achievements because Chinese
philosopher Lao Tzu said “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.
Government can be its own enemy in terms of a well-coordinated information dissemination.
Isn’t this just enough to satisfy the YAS portion of the SONA?
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