By Sheku Putka Kamara
One of the prominent football clubs in the country’s national Premier League, Ports Authority recently involved in a road crash along the Masiaka-Mile 91 highway, Konta Line, leaving head coach, Lamin Bangura, a few players and the conductor dead.
The club’s bus ran into a truck that was reportedly parked on the road unprofessionally. Following the fatal road crash, photos depicting awful scenes and images flooded social media and the incident sent shock waves across the country as football matches were put on hold across the country for at least two days.
That incident had passed, but have we learnt our lessons?
If you are frequent traveller in and out of Freetown and to the provinces, you would agree with me that most of our roads are not road worthy and unfortunately too, we have a lot of unprofessional drivers plying these routes. To some of them, driving is the only thing that matters, giving blind eye to checking of road signs, road worthiness with safety of vehicles likely secondary issues to them, but because we are a country of resilient people and a prayerful national, we likely believe that things happen for a reason.
Rip Coach Lamin Conteh
If you ask me, Sierra Leone Roads Safety Authority (SLRSA) and the Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA) stand indicted as much is expected from them. The police, among other relevant authorities, and all of us have roles to play as safety and good roads remain centre stage. In this day and age, even if we cannot have it right all the time, we must make conscious efforts to ensure that we minimize harm and do things in the best interest of the country and its people.
Whilst Ports Authority football club are the latest victim, it could happen to any other team if prudent measures are not put in place. The need to treat matters of this nature with utmost importance should not be overemphasised and therefore concerted efforts are needed from all and sundry. While it is not safe to entirely blame one sector, we should understand the causes of the problems and make efforts to combat it if not eradicate same.
Incidents of this nature should remind us all to be more systematic and very strategic in all engagements. While we could argue that this may have just been an act of destiny, maybe it is safer to equally suppose that this could have been avoided just if all necessary vital approaches would have been taken into consideration as road safety experts hold the view that car crashes can be prevented and therefore referred to them as road crashes rather than the common use of accidents.
Clearly and in this part of the globe, most of our footballers are into the game largely because of passion and or the urge to reach enviable heights, but with what they are to likely get only playing in Sierra Leone, we may not be able to say the same.
It is on that note that I urge that we get better policies including insurance, security, among others, just so that we would continue to encourage and thoroughly monitor the activities of our sporting teams.
May the souls of the departed rest in peace and may prudent actions be taken, going forward. Clearly, we have to make all necessary efforts just if there is a chance to limit some of these tragic occurrences. We should not settle for less and the time to act is now!
Copy right –Printed in the Expo Magazine on Monday, April 19th, 2024 (ExpoTimes News – Expo Media Group (expomediasl.com)
