By: Kemo Kanyi
The minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Bakary Y. Badjie, has challenged the Local Government Council under the purview of the United Democratic Party to contribute to the development of sports in the country by constructing local sporting facilities for the youth.
His remarks came in response to UDP’s Tombong Saidy criticism of the government ‘neglecting’ the youth of the country.
Tombong Saidy, UDP’s administrative secretary for media and communication, described the current unapproved Independence Stadium for hosting international matches as a national disgrace and demonstration that the current administration under President Adama Barrow has neglected the youth and the national team, the scorpions.
According to minister Badjie, the UDP-led local governments have not invested in a single youth or sports project at both central and local levelled
He stressed that UDP doesn’t have to make people believe that they will change the current state of sports in the country when they are elected into central government office, and if they can, “they should do it now.”
He added that all the municipal parks are done by local councils all over the world even the neighbouring country, Senegal.
“That is what we want their councils to do so that we can share the responsibility of developing the sports sector of the country and not to put all blames on the ministry.
Let them do it now and let the young people see it so that they can say maybe when they are elected into central government they would be able to improve the sporting sector. Let them initiate it now. That’s what any honest person would do. This is our challenge to them,” he challenged in a recent interview on Coffee Time.
He urged the local councils to understand and prioritize the needs of young people and invest taxpayers’ money in sports infrastructure, stating that they [UDP-led councils] should be able to take care of the basic needs and priorities.
