Sierra Leone News:Bo Stadium: What Message? The National Stadium was officially opened in 1979. The Bo Stadium has been finished in 2014. Tell me why the Bo stadium finished in 2014 in the 21st century should not be better than that in Freetown? Sierra Leone is a small country, I agree, but what keeps me pondering is the fact that some areas in the country are so remote that they are referred to even in government circles as ‘hard to reach’. It is like the roads made in the colonial days. I am not too sure whether they had iron rods in those remote days. So, they were very frugal in the use of materials to build bridges and even buildings. You know those in governance in our grandfathers days, made very narrow bridges and cleverly put a signboard written on it ‘Narrow Bridge’. Tell me, if narrow bridges were so dangerous, why did they make them narrow in the first place? Same for our hard to reach areas in the country. Why not remove the barriers that make them remote and stop derogatorily referring to them as hard to reach? I strongly believe that part of our development can be blamed on ignorance, illiteracy and poverty, themselves entrenched by the sheer remoteness and backwardness of the so-called hard to reach areas. You see down the line in our history, we had made many monumental problems that are today still telling badly on our level of maturity as a nation. Why are we always losing very good opportunities? Are we so mentally blind or what? When I was a kid going to Primary school, the only main road from Freetown to Kono District, was the one from Freetown to Mile 47, later called Masiaka, to Bo, Kenema to Segbwema and then North eastward to Kono. At that time the Kono District Headquarter town was called Sefadu. Sefadu is still on some government documents. When the great Konomanyi took over as Chairman, committee of management for Sefadu, by then the Name Koidu had come into prominence. Konomanyi developed especially the eastward and soon the name Koidu-New Sembehun Township shot up. So today the headquarter town of Kono is Koidu and their City Council is called Koidu- New Sembehun City Council. In those days, important towns or villages at least had a one mile stretch of tarmaced road. This was how you could tell an important town from another. In Mendeland, they would add the word Kotaaya to the name of the town meaning eg, Moimandu Kottayam. In some you can still see the patches of tar. Now what happened? In the 70s, a new road was made linking the North with Koidu town through Matotoka and Massingbi. This was a very fantastic development but it effectively and slowly made all the towns along the Koidu/Segwema axis remote as the road was abandoned and today hardly anybody in governance remember the only road at the time to Koidu. Up to the early seventies when the railway was up and running, the Segbwema road was a bit good. But when once the train was wiped off the Sierra Leone developmental landscape, everybody in governance, even those who hail from there, forgot about that road. When the Matotoka-Kono Road became unplyable sometime back, the alternative road became the Tongo route which cut-off the entire Kailahun north, five or so chiefdoms. Well, nobody seems ever to complain. Yes, man nor complain, man dae maintain, like Famous and LAJ are singing. Do you see where I am coming from? Roads, I mean poor roads are part of our poverty and ignorance history. So, President Koroma’s efforts in giving priority to roads is more that in place never mind the dilemma of getting roads compete with education, health and other vital sectors. Like I always say, over the years, development had so much left in limbo, that now almost everything seems to be a priority. It is a dilemma! Would you have preferred the government to do the Segbwema Road instead of Wilkinson road? Would you have preferred the government do the Kabala- Yiffin road and not Spur Road? Hard questions for even residents of the Wilberforce Barracks, many of whom hail from Koinadugu District. Do you get the point? Prioritizing in Sierra Leone’s developmental landscape becomes a whole nightmare by itself. Those who plan for us, sometimes perhaps appear to be completely out of tune with our situation. I was in Bo some time ago and I went with some friends to visit the newly-completed stadium. Yes, you expect me to be happy but I was and in fact I am not. Why? It is not in line with 21st Century trends. The pitch looks fine but not enough sitting accommodation. We the fact that football has taken over the world, one would have expected a standard perhaps better than even the Freetown National Stadium, so that we can at least talk about an alternative stadium. Well, in Bo there was some political fanatic who was quick to say that the Bo stadium was ok for our standard! Can you imagine?. If you want to go political, the interesting thing is that the Bo stadium was started during the previous administration and is now completed in the time of the current government. So, between them, the people of this nation needs some explanation as to why that stadium was built with the most myopic of minds. You go ahead and tell me that I am not patriotic…but go to Bo and check how many spectators that stadium accommodates! Let us jump a little bit into history. The National Stadium was opened in 1979 with great fanfare by former President Siaka Stevens after whom it was first named, until the khaki boys changed it in 1992 or so. Small logic. Between 1979 and 2014, we have some 20 or so years. How can we do a stadium today that does not match the one done over twenty years ago. I thought we are all moving forward. If it was prudent to make Wilkinson Road four lanes, one would have thought the same consideration could have been given to any stadium years after the Freetown one. I was privileged to be in Nairobi in 2012 or so when an eight lane street was opened. I wondered where in Freetown we can squeeze 8 lanes. Well you will have to demolish houses all the way down to the sea. I really think that stands should be added to the little one done for the Bo stadium. As the second city, can we expect mediocrity in the 21st Century in respect of football? Not at all. The space is there! Somebody whispered that the current sitting can hold 4,000. Come on is that not that ridiculous when one considers that football has taken over the world? Don’t we want to move forward? By Ben Cambayma. Thursday March 13, 2014
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 09:10:58 +0000
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