Africa-Press – Gambia. A team of Under-16 boys and girls representing The Gambia in the Zone II basketball championship in Guinea set out on a bus for the 1088-kilometer journey last Tuesday. There were 20 players, 8 girls and 12 boys. Five officials from the Gambia Basketball Federation, the driver and two apprentices were also on board, making a total of 28 people. The bus has a capacity for 59 passengers and was fully air-conditioned.
The team, split into two, male and female categories, was heading to participate in the regional championship, seeking a place in the African continental championship in Rwanda later this year.
The championship was originally scheduled for Senegal but moved to Guinea. The Gambia Basketball Federation said time and budgetary constraints forced them to take the road, which they often do anyway, mainly due to lack of funds.
The bus never arrived in Conakry. On Thursday evening, just an hour’s drive short of the capital, the vehicle fell flat on one side while avoiding an overtaking car from the other direction.
The trauma and shock in the bus was horrible with many suffering injuries that were later found to be not so serious but equally needing urgent treatment supplied by local health facilities in the Kindia of Guinea.
News of the accident hit the sports fraternity back home like a thunder bolt with everyone outraged. “Why was the team not given adequate funds to go by plane?”, everyone seemed to be asking. Would any government official accept to travel 1088 kilometers by land to represent The Gambia in international events?,” others asked.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports which did not have enough money to fund airfares, sprang to action and informed the government and President Adama Barrow who instructed for a plane to be sent to Conakry to bring the team Friday night.
The team arrived to meet a heavily mobilised medical team with ambulances and even wheelchairs. The entire delegation was whisked to nearby Woodpecker Hotel where officials and medical personnel further assessed the boys and girls before allowing parents to meet and later took delivery of them.
“Thanks to Allah the whole thing is now under control and we are monitoring the boys and girls as they recover from the shock and the minor injuries they may have suffered. This was an unfortunate incident about which all of us are sorry, We thank the government and President Barrow for the quick move to evacuate the children back home for proper care,” Ndongo Camara, president of the Gambia Basketball Federation told The Standard.
However many people accused the government of negligence and improper management of sport funding. “The Ministry of Youth and Sport MoYS receives the least budget of all ministries and even though according to the government the sector receives other sources of funding, these are never put solely at the disposal of the ministry.
Each time sports associations request funding for international trips, MoYS will have to go cap in hand going back and forth to the Ministry of Finance looking for funds and would always come back with reduced budget for every given request. Even the Sports levy paid by GSM companies is never entirely put at the disposal of MoYS,” a seasoned analyst told The Standard. He also accused MoYS of prioritising only football over other disciplines. “Granted, football is the biggest and most popular, and may be better organised or successful, but the difference between the support it gets from government, compared to other sports, is ridiculously huge,” our analyst said
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