The leadership of the Sports Writers Association of Sierra Leone (SWASAL) has, in furtherance of its meetings with sports stakeholders, on Friday, 16th July 2021 met with the Managing Director of the United Bank for Africa-Sierra Leone (UBA-SL).
The meeting, with the UBA-SL top executive, was to introduce the newly elected SWASAL executive and to forge partnership with the Bank. By widening its partnership scope, the new executive intends to build partnerships with institutions and individuals where necessary, in order to build a coalition of like minds for the development and promotion of sports generally.
The meeting, which was held at the Bank’s headquarters in Freetown, discussed plans by the Sports Writers Association on how they intend to collaborate and partner with the UBA to promote sports in Sierra Leone.
In his statement, the President of SWASAL, Sahr Morris Jr., disclosed the Association’s plan to revive National Sports Awards, which, he noted, has been lacking for a very long time. He pointed out that the National Sports Awards is designed to identify and reward sports men and women from across all sporting disciplines in the country, for their contributions towards the development of sports and that the Awards will also consider individuals and institutions that have contributed to the development and promotion of sports.
“Such a recognition, coming from sports writers in my estimation, will serve as a motivation and an inducement to sports participants as well as sports supporters to do more for the development and promotion of any sport they are interested in,” the SWASAL President noted.
Sahr Moriss Jr. also intimated the UBA MD of plans by the Association to re-launch the Sports World Newspaper with a special edition. The Sports World Newspaper is the media outlet of SWASAL, specifically for reporting sports and sports related issues.
Mr. Moriss Jr. called on the UBA Bank MD to consider advertising with the Sports World Newspaper as a way of supporting the cause of developing and promoting sports and sports writers in the country.
In his response, the UBA-SL MD and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Usman Isiaka, congratulated the newly elected executive and thanked them for the bold step in reaching out to the management of UBA.
He noted his delight for partnering with the Sports Writers Association, describing it as “a privilege,” because, according to him, the UBA believes in the media and recognizes their role in the socioeconomic development of countries.
“We are a growing institution and as such we recognize the role the media plays and can play in our continuous growth,” the UBA MD and CEO noted.
He assured SWASAL of his Bank’s commitment to the partnership and that they were ready to give the partnership their total support.
Mohamed Alhajie Samoura, the Executive Director of UBA-SL, also joined in congratulating the SWASAL executive and in sharing his relationship with the media. He revealed that he was, at one time, working for the Concord Times Newspaper. He also reiterated UBA-SL’s commitment and willingness to partner with SWASAL.
CREDIT: Desmond Tunde Coker