moves, and has therefore threatened to ban the Association from its membership, a threat they seem intent on carrying out if there is no resolution to the crisis.
The bottom line with all this drama between football authorities in Sierra Leone is that the sport of football and the athletes are the ones who will suffer the consequences of this mega battle that is playing out.
You cannot discard or downplay leadership in any situation but leaders are put into positions to serve their community in question and the most important thing is they need to grasp the full understanding of the concept of leading through serving others rather than self.
In the case of the Sierra Leone Football Association which for the better part since the election of Madam Isha Johansen has been embroiled in one controversy or another; the leadership and the membership needs to come to terms with the reality of their circumstances and find a way to work with each other till Ms. Johansen’s term of office concludes or else face the axe by FIFA.
The question is can they find a way to come to some kind of agreement till the next election which is a couple of years away or will big ego’s prevail and destroy the game in the country, a country which has had way more than its share of pain and heartache for the last 30 years; with a devastating civil war that lasted over a decade and the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus.
Sports and especially football has been known to be one of the greatest tools in bringing communities together and fostering healing where there was a level of ugliness before. So what is it with Sierra Leone that with all the troubles that has befallen the country over the past three decades; the people that should help in creating an atmosphere of unity and peace cannot seem to understand that it is not about them but about the people who they lead and their welfare?
“To whom Much is Given Much will be required” – Luke 12:48.
African Sports Monthly was able to catch up with some of the key people involved in the ongoing saga along with interested parties in the football world of
Sierra Leone; in Mr. Unisa ‘Awoko’ Sesay, Madam Isha Johansen and Mr. Rodney Michael to get their viewpoints on the matter at hand and in subsequent pages we feature the interviews of Mr. Rodney Michael with that of the other parties to follow in our next issue.