Who Is LFA’s New Secretary General


2006-09-05

On last Thursday the Executive Committee of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) met to decide on the names of three candidates submitted to that body by the president, Cllr. S. Izetta Wesley as to who becomes the Secretary General of the local football house. This meeting follows several previous rejections of other nominees for the post.

At the end of that day’s deliberation Mr. George Williams was elected as the new Secretary General after wining his rival Mr. Washington Blay on an 8 to 6 vote. But who actually is Mr. George Williams? Not much is known of Mr. Williams in the wider Liberian public. Our Sports desk has been looking at who the man George Williams actually is.

Mr. George Williams is a young Liberian born in Grand Cess, Grand Kru County and a current candidate of the Master of Science Degree in Regional Planning at the University of Liberia. Already Mr. Williams holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Economics from the University of Liberia.

He is a graduate of the Lott Carey Mission High School and has attended several foreign schools including the Federal Government College in Kaduna, Kaduna State, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and the Seoul International School, Seoul, South Korea.

Mr. Williams has also participated in series of trainings, conferences and workshops. Notably amongst them was an Applied Conflict Analysis & Resolution and Project Design, Monitoring and Evaluation conference attended at the American University, Wahington DC. He also facilitated a pre-election observation team tour of Liberia in 2005.

Mr. Williams has worked in several reputable institutions; holding key senior positions. From 2004-2006 he served as Project Officer for the International Republican Institute, Monrovia and is currently the Executive Director of the Liberia Democracy Watch in Monrovia.

He is also an Instructor and Educator. He is a former Instructor of Economics of the St. Mary’s Catholic School, former Dean of Admission, CWA Junior College and Acting Dean of Admission United Methodist University.

The new chief scribe of the local football house has great aspirations for the Liberia Football Association (LFA).

Mr. Williams, cognizant of the impact of war on the youth population of Liberia and their natural proclivity to sports (soccer in particular), and mindful of the unfolding national reconstruction and recovery processes of the government of Liberia, has earmarked the following as his preoccupation within the first six months.

He also intends to undertake healing at all levels of the football administration in Liberia; beginning with the Executive Committee the Secretariat and the conduct of a systems audit of the administration of the FA beginning from the headquarters to the regional/county level. He has also plans to hold consultative vision-building workshops aimed at creating a strategic action plan for the years of the current administration and to examine the LFA-MYS relations for greater productivity. He has planned the establishment of a resource center for advancing the capacity of Liberian coaches and establishing a website exclusive to the LFA

Mr. Williams has also earmarked several media to work with the FA during its long-term plans. Prominent among these is to develop graduated programs aimed at institutionalizing member clubs of the FA. Focus will commence with clubs in the premiership and identifying potential sources of funding for various levels of the national teams.