By Kemoh Sesay
A prominent football stakeholder, has called on the nation to approach the one million dollar fund launched by business man John Sesay for Leone Stars with some caution. Rodney Michael told Politico that the "initiative is good and I do not care if it is politically intended...no problem for me there...in fact it is good to see someone consider football as a good political weapon".
But Michael said "the priority should be preparations and not qualification...because without preparations we will never qualify. I hope John can convince the sponsors to give generously for preparations...and let government give the bonus for qualifications...and I hope he can convince the FA and Ministry for independent management because not many will give if the current arrangement with funds continue ...and it could have a very serious adverse effect on him if the funds are not managed properly".
The chairman of first division side, Edmond Michael Foundation, said "I am of the opinion that the initiative would have been better if it was to help with preparations instead of it being an incentive for qualification. Let us prepare well and create an appropriate environment for the national team first, before worrying about the bonus scheme".
Michael expressed doubts that an independent committee would be given the free hand to run the project. He said "there are many unanswered questions, so how will all of this work when we have qualifiers in a few weeks?".
He said the nation's focus "should be on the 2017 Nations Cup and 2018 World Cup...but 2015 is a remote possibility".
According to Sirajin Rollings-Kamara, the project coordinator plans are now far advanced for the initiative to be launched on Independence Day. He rejected suggestions that the support would come too late for Leone Stars bid to qualify for Morocco 2015 but agreed for the preparations. He said the original plan was to use the money as a prize in case the team qualified for the tournament. But, he said, "we are willing to consider other options now being suggested by some stakeholders".
Rollings-Kamara said one hundred thousand dollars will be in the account on the day the project is launched after which other individuals and institutions would be encouraged to donate funds.
(C) Politico 23/04/14
