By Foday Moriba Conteh
As it remains few more days to go for the long awaited Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) Elective Congress scheduled to hold on the 26th & 27th February, 2021 in Makeni City which will see another new administration or the continuity of the administration in running the affairs of the football family in the country, the Chief Executive Officer of “No Child Left Behind Initiative”, Jennifer Adeshola Thompson, who arrived in Sierra Leone on Thursday 18th February 2021 from the United States of America (USA) to observe the electioneering process, has called for a free, fair & transparent SLFA Elections. She made this disclosure during an exclusive interview with this Press.
She pointed out that football gives us a great opportunity to be united as a society and to empower children through the values that it brings, adding that elections serve as a formal process of selecting individuals for public offices, of accepting or rejecting a political proposition by voting but said it should not be a do or die thing as such would have the tendency to disunite the football family in the country.
Jennifer noted that it is appropriate to reflect on the positive, constructive roles the game of football can play to enhance peace and development in the county, adding that the contribution of sports in peace building in troubled communities cannot be over emphasized at the community level and that at the community level, sports has the unique power to attract, mobilize and create an atmosphere where people can come together and work together towards the same goal and show respect for one another, furthering that Sports can contribute to development, create jobs, support the economy and promote gender equality.
She went on to state that sports can also serve as a conflict prevention measure, helping to forestall the process that leads to the generation of aggression, hatred and fear which are the key ingredients of conflicts.
In the light of the above, according to her, sporting activities, like football among others, can be used to help build peace in troubled communities maintaining that the football family in the country must stand together rather than fighting each other.
“We have one country, one peace and one SLFA. If we lose this peace, we have nowhere to run to, so let us all maintain the peace, we have to build a peaceful country for the next generation to come,” she admonished.
Jennifer called for Free, fair and transparent elections, underscoring that any form of manipulation in the electioneering process has the tendency to create negative impacts within the football family in the country which she said should not be our goal.
Jennifer Adeshola Thompson, who is a true philanthropist whose compassionate gestures have left indelible footprints in the realm of development, especially positively impacting the lives of young people in the country, believes that “unity in the football family in the country will enhance growth within the sporting discipline”.
She categorically stated that she will continue to support football in the country especially in creating female football teams asserting that when one invests in the youth, one is investing in their future and the country as a whole because the youth are the future leaders.
It could be recalled that out of her passion for football, Jennifer Adeshola Thompson adopted a female Football Team in a village within Bo District which she intends to develop with Bo players bringing them together, making a forceful impact.
