Lamin King Colley, the Chairperson of Western Region Sports Committee was least unimpressed with the way his region has been treated by the interim committee of the National Sports Council, with regards to its failure to give them the greenlight to conduct its congress following the expiration of their four-year tenure into office as stipulated in the constitution.
The President of Brikama Youth and Sports Committee who has recently been elected as the Chairman of all the seven administrative regions said the regions were not fairly treated.
"We are not given the respect we deserve and our term as the regional Chairperson expires since March 5th 2009 after four years into office, and according to the act, we are due for a congress after the expiration of our term which should be followed by a congress to decide whether we should be maintained or not by the people of our various regions," King stated.
"I think we have taken good steps in writing to the National Sports Council before we could hold a congress. But we were told to hold on until the National Sports Conference is done. After being patient for so long, we have not heard from them," the disappointed Chairman told reporters in this press briefing.
According to him, when they requested the sports council to give them the notice pertaining to the congress, they were told for the second time that they should wait again because of the arrival of the queen's baton.
This, he added is long over due because they have been silent over the issue for nine months without a congress which is not in the constitution.
According to him, the dissolution by the Minister is not the solution to the problem. As he put it, they have not done anything wrong since their appointment into office.
The Executive Secretary of the National Sports Council Alieu Cham told this reporter that their decision to ask the regions to hold on before they could hold their congress is due to the arrival of the queen's baton but could not go into detail.
