The Government of Liberia Needs to Fully Decentralise the National County Sports Meet

The National County Sports Meet in Liberia ended on 2 February 2025. Grand Bassa County girls won the first place beating my county, Grand Kru, girls to the second place. My wife’s county, Lofa County, for its part, defeated Grand Gedeh County in the football final match. Lofa County also won the basket basketball finals. Congratulations to all the winning teams. Congratulations also to all those who did not win. In every competition there must be a winner. So, I urge all winners and losers to celebrate their statuses. Congratulations to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for organising the peaceful games and congratulations also to the entire Government of Liberia. I like to equally thank the people of Liberia for the show of support for their counties. The Unity and love displayed for our counties and the good sportsmanship exhibited during the finals is an attestation that unity can take Liberia to higher heights. Congratulations to all.

 

Now that the games are over, what next? I have always heard that the games are intended to scout players and to unite the people of Liberia. If this is true, I thank God and strongly think that the planners or organizers of the tournaments should do more using the various games to Unite the Liberian people. The tournaments should also be used to scout for new players that could be brought up to the national and international stage to foster their talents. I am aware that there were competitions in basketball, kickball, and football. I do not know about other sporting disciplines being a part of the competition. However, I would like to encourage the planners and organizers to incorporate other sporting disciplines that other Liberians love. This could help to promote those other disciplines.

 

From my observation football seems to be the most popular game that Liberians love. The Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium was jammed packed when the final match between Lofa County and Grand Gedeh County played. We took many sides due to several reasons. After it all, Lofa County defeated Grand Gedeh County 2 goals to 1 goal. After that game, several Honors and Awards were given to players, teams, referees, and many other partakers in the various disciplines. I personally wish to congratulate all those who won awards. I hope and pray that you will progress in your various careers. I equally urge all those that did not win any award to keep pressing on. Your time will come one day. That you did not get the award this time, you could get it tomorrow. Your time will surely come one day. Congratulations to all of you for your participation in all the different games. Liberia is proud of you all.

 

I support unity, peace, and reconciliation amongst Liberians because, with these, the country can make irreversible progress towards national economic growth and development. With peace and unity, progress is assured. I also support the ambition that the games should be used to scout new players and support them to advance their careers in the areas they like. Imagine if the enthusiasm for the finals were present and shown for the Liberia Nation Lonestar Teams! I think the games should be used to expose the talents of new players in all the sporting disciplines. Let us support them at the national levels and elevate to international levels. I am not certain about the rules governing participation in the games, but I think those guidelines are done in the best interest of our young players and competitors, and the National Interest of Liberia.

 

AS I SEE IT, the County Sports Competition should really be genuine and focused on exposing the different talents from the County. As such, there should be competitions at the town, clan, and district levels within the counties. Players should be drawn from those internal county competitions to form the county teams. That means that all county players will be the actual residents from those counties. With that, each county will have fresh and brand-new talents given the opportunity and chance to compete and emerge from within the counties. It is not a good practice to have players from Lofa featuring for Grand Kru or players from Montserrado playing for Nimba and vice versa for instance. It is good that the hidden talents within the counties are brought out. We need to fully decentralise the competition and expose the hidden talents in our counties. We should not recycle players from first, second and third divisions to take the place of those young talents that cannot easily find exposure opportunities in the counties. The Government should allocate monetary support to this process so that we can get the best out of it. As I See It, if this actual localisation process is taken into consideration, I think the Government of Liberia will realise its intent of genuine unity and reconciliation in the counties, scout new talents and Take the National County Sports Meet to Another Level.

About the Author: Prof. Tom Kaydor, Jr. is an Assistant Professor at the IBB Graduate School of International Studies. He holds a PhD from the Department of Government and European Studies, the New University, Slovenia where he specialized in International Development and Diplomacy (with Security Aspects). His dissertation topic was ‘Reconceptualizing Africa’s Regional Integration for Peace and Sustainable Development.’ This dissertation was supervised by Prof. Dr. Gorazd Justinek who was also then Dean of the Faculty of Government and European Studies. Dr. Kaydor earned his second master’s in public policy (MPP) specialized in Development Policy or Development Economics with Distinction from the Crawford School of Economics and Government (now the Crawford School of Public Policy), Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He obtained his first master’s degree as a Master of Arts (MA) in International Relations (Highest Distinction), and Bachelor of Arts (BA) Magna Cum Laude in Political Science with emphasis in Comparative Government and Politics from the University of Liberia where his Minor was History with Mass Communication his Elective. Tom holds a Diploma in Leading Economic Growth from the Kennedy Graduate School, Harvard University, USA; a Diploma in Contemporary Diplomacy and Negotiations from the Islamabad Foreign Service Academy in Pakistan and he holds other professional diplomas and certificates from Italy, UK, China, and Israel. Prof. Kaydor is also an Adjunct Professor of International Development Studies at the AME University Graduate School. He is an evidence-based researcher, a blogger, a columnist, and a published author. He is a Reviewer for 6 peer-reviewed International Journals. Prof Kaydor has published 6 books in English; French; Portuguese; Spanish; Italian; German; Italian; with several peer-reviewed articles indicated in his CV @ https://tomkaydor.blogspot.com/2024/09/prof-dr-tom-kaydor-cv.html. Dr. Kaydor served as Deputy Foreign Minister for International Cooperation and Economic Integration in Liberia; Assistant Foreign Minister for Afro Asian Affairs in Liberia; UN Coordination Advisor in Ethiopia; UN Coordination  Analyst in Liberia; UNICEF-Liberia National Consultant on the Formulation of the Roadmap for Children Living in Street Situations; UNICEF-Liberia Volunteer Engagement Specialist; Chief of Staff-Office of the Chairperson on Executive, House of Representatives; Field Supervisor for LCIP/USAID/DAI Social and Economic Reintegration-Liberia; Psychosocial Officer, World Vision International-Liberia Program. He can be reached via (Email: kaydorth@ul.edu.lr  or kaydorth@gmail.com).