The Daily Observer (Banjul)
Hatab Fadera
9 July 2009
The vice president and minister for Women's Affairs, Her Excellency Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy, has stated that effective administration and management is a fundamental prerequisite towards enhancing sports development.
This, she said, is particularly so in light of the fact that today, more than ever before, the sporting arena is an area that yields higher value the world over. The Gambia's vice president was speaking yesterday at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi, where she presided over the official opening of a two-day national sports conference, on behalf of The Gambian leader, His Excellency Sheikh Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh.
Attended by the speaker of the National Assembly of The Gambia, Honourable Elizabeth Renner, ministers, National Assembly members, members of the diplomatic community and key stakeholders in the sporting fraternity, the conference, which is organised by the ministry of Youth and Sports, aims, among other things, to formulate a new sports policy and action plan.
Vice President Njie-Saidy described the meeting as timely and important in that it provides a platform for sober reflection on issues affecting the development of sports in The Gambia, with a view to ushering in a new national sports policy and programme of action for the period 2009-2018. She underscored the importance of sports, noting that it contributes to significant personal and family successes, in addition to the glory it can bring to winning nations.
Sports, she went on, also bring a lot of commercial benefits, saying that in this way, there is a strong linkage with socio-economic advancement, growth and development. "As a developing country, therefore, and as a country that is now gaining international recognition in sports, notably football, The Gambia seeks to take advantage of every opportunity to ensure that sports is well developed and that people and institutions are encouraged to participate in it," said Dr Njie-Saidy.
"It is in recognition of this reality," she added, "that government has over the years provided significant moral and financial support for the development of sports, and the mobilisation of national gender-mainstreamed interest in the area." She went on, "The government would not relent in this effort. But the gains can only be realised if we all come together to adequately prepare to overcome the challenges we face on the way."
The vice president expressed government's expectation that at the end of the two-day conference, there will emerge a more co-ordinated response to good governance and the necessary institutional framework for effective management and efficient co-ordination of sports, the development of a strategic and sustainable marketing partnership across all sectors, as well as the development of a national sports infrastructure master plan, amongst others. She commended all the stakeholders who had contributed in one way or the other to the initiative.
Speaking earlier, the minister for Youth and Sports, Sheriff Gomez, stated that government, through his ministry, recognises that if the sporting fraternity wants to improve and consolidate on the achievements registered and to attain the sports mission of excellence through mass participation, then there is the need for concerted efforts. "We must collectively, as stakeholders, meet head on, the colossal impediments challenging our sports development. Finding solutions to these critical challenges such as financing of sports, sports infrastructure and facilities, governance, organisation and management of sports, co-ordination of sports at national level, decentralisation and mass sports for health, are crucial to ushering us as a true sporting nation," Minister Gomez indicated.
The Youth and Sports minister went on to say that the government, under the inspirational leadership of President Jammeh, has spearheaded sports policy and strategy frameworks in recognition of the critical role it can play in our efforts at socio-economic emancipation. "Through these strategies, not only did we witness the spiralling of different sporting disciplines in their various stages of development, but also most notably the unprecedented achievements of being crowned for the second time as U-17 football African champions, and our senior team breaking the 46 years underdog status with our neighbours," stated the Youth and Sport minister, while commending the president for his historic gesture of rewarding the U-17 team. Alex Mustapha da Costa, chairman of the interim committee of the National Sports Council, expressed similar sentiments. The permanent secretary at the ministry of Youth and Sports, Mambanyick Njie, moderated the occasion.
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