A Suggestion for ProUSA’s Success
By Omari Jackson
PRO USA is a non-governmental organization
(NGO) determined to revive interests for the support of Liberian
sports. The organization recently concluded its first campaign,
visiting Liberia with a team of soccer stars and playing some games
there.
Recently the organization held a
well-attended meeting in Minnesota, MN and from the meeting I am
told several committees were set up, with one charged to review its
constitution, and among other things submit recommendations for an
eventual election of its leaders.
In the wake of the reorganization, there
is also a plan to start the publication of a sports magazine to
generate funds to strengthen its second visit to Liberia in
December, this year.
While all the efforts seem great and sound,
I have a suggestion for the organizers, which I am convinced if
considered could save it from future conflict and embarrassment.
First of all, the PRO USA organization is
an NGO, which simply means a NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION under no
politician or political party.
In its simple understanding it is an
organization that is not under the authority or control of any
government. If this answer is correct which I think it is, how come
then a committee has been set up to consider its “Constitution and
then its election of its leaders?”
Since it is an entity that should have no
control of or from the government of Liberia, why should the
officers go through an election process to select its leaders?
Please make no mistake about my position since I am aware that there
are several members who believe that for any organization to be
effective, there should be a check and balance and those who head it
should be selected by those it’s supposed to serve.
However, with that in mind, there is a
problem here.
First of all before Mr. Duanna Siryon
dreamed about the organization, those it supposed to serve did not
have any idea about it. And as far as those who will benefit from
the organization are concerned, they have no idea of any such
organization at all.
So like a YMCA, Red Cross and any other NGO,
their leaders are selected by a board of directors, meaning credible
individuals who share the ideals or belief of the originators of
those organizations, and they are functioned under an Executive
Director.
Consider the International Olympic
Committee for example. When the Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin
saw the need to revive the Ancient Olympic Games, after several
attempts had failed by some individuals, he assumed the role as its
second president.
The regulation (not
Constitution) of the IOC at the time said the leader of the IOC
should come from the “country” where the Games were organized, and
therefore the first president, selected by its congress went
to Mr. Demetrios Vikelas of Greece, since the first Games were held
in Greece.
I am using this argument since PROUSA is
born from an idea dreamed about by Mr. Duanna Siryon’s burning
desire to get Liberians to return to love sports in Liberia.
Let’s continue with the Olympic story to
see some parallels in it. Now the idea for the revival of the
Olympic Games, as noted came from the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin,
who had studied sports in Great Britain with some interest.
But was
the Frenchman satisfied with the man who was to become the first
president of the Olympic Committee (Games)? There is mounting of
evidence that he was, for an IOC source explained it this way: “Mr.
Vikelas had no particular connection with sport when he came from
Greece, representing the Pan Hellenic Gymnastic Club, to the
Congress in Paris in 1894, at which Baron de Coubertin suggested the
revival of the Olympic Games. Despite his lack of technical
knowledge, he supported the newborn project most enthusiastically.
No one worked harder or with more perseverance than he to
persuade his fellow countrymen and the Greek government that they
should support this ambitious project. His efforts were finally
crowned by success.”
You get
the idea?
What was the role of the man who
suggested the revival of the Olympic Games? According to
www.olympic-museum.de/president: “Everyone
knows the history of the Games, but what is generally overlooked is
the ceaseless labour, the tenacity and the perseverance which the
Baron de Coubertin was forced to exert in order to realize,
accomplish and perfect this vast and important work.”
It goes on, “It is to him that we owe
the whole of the main organization of the Olympic Games which
benefited from his methodical and precise mind and from his wide
understanding of the aspirations and needs of youth. He
was, in fact, for many years the sole director and so
shaped the form and character of the Games. The rules and
regulations, and the athlete`s oath, came from him, as well as the
basic arrangement of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.” (Emphasis
mine…Omari Jackson)
Like
Mr. Siryon, who is the originator of PRO USA, this organization will
either survive or die with the efforts he puts behind it. Like de
Coubetin, it was Mr. Siryon who thought about the golden ideal for
the development of the idea for the support and education of sports
in Liberia, and therefore it is my recommendation that rather than
“craft” a Constitution to govern PRO USA, there should rather be
something like “regulations” that should govern PRO USA.
And what is the idea behind my suggestion?
You don’t have to go far away to get it.
Have you heard of ULAA? Or ALJA? Except you live in a cave, the
internal conflict that has bedeviled ULAA is disheartening to say
the least, and all because of the illusion of its political nature.
For ALJA, this meant ‘Association of
Liberian Journalists in the Americas’ it could not survive the
internal conflicts and was buried, and maybe it is waiting the
second coming of Jesus Christ!
And I am sure you know the source of their
problem, and if you don’t then here it is: it is the “Constitution”
that turned those organizations into ‘political organizations”
rather than Non-Governmental Organizations.
Until ULAA and such organizations return to
assume their proper roles in the lives of its members, you should
always be prepared for the ‘return of the internal conflicts,” in
their administrations.
Now to complete the Olympic story, Pierre
de Coubetin became the 2nd president of the International
Olympic Committee, for, like our own Siryon, he was aware of the
importance of the organization and what it was needed for its
survival.
Though politics had bedeviled the Olympic
Games due to influences of powerful nations in the past, when such
nations would refuse to send their athletes to the Games due to
their political differences with other participating nations, the
IOC has practically stayed out of politics up to this day.
Since political maneuverings are out of the
IOC, there is respect from all quarters of the world, and much has
been achieved.
The objective of PRO USA is the development
of sports and the provision of scholarships for Liberian students,
according to a source, and these will be realized if attention is
focused on what it can achieve and therefore anything that resembles
the influence of ‘politics’ should be thrown out of it.
My suggestion is also that anyone whose
heart is moved to join the movement should do so to work alongside
the originators and respecting the ‘regulations’ that may govern it.
When attention is focused on the needs of Liberian youths, there
will be little attention on individual’s desire to ascend to power
for its name sake.
The organizers should use the experiences
of Liberian organizations as yardsticks to avoid confusion in the
future.
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About the
author:
Omari Jackson is a graduate of the International Olympic Academy
in Ancient Olympia, Greece, a journalist and lectured sporting
organizations in Liberia. He attended his first Olympics as a
journalist at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
