NCSM Financial Report Should Be A Public Record -Why Is Min. Zeogar Wilson Overly Protective?

Since its emergence as a national sports festivity, the County Meet has always cultivated an overwhelming air of public attraction, and its leaders have always been accountable, transparent, fair, and open, especially with the handling of administrative and financial records.
It is no secret that records generated from the holding of the annual sports festivity, whether financial or just narrative on the technical aspect, automatically become a public document and should be freely provided to the public without anyone posturing as a stumbling block.
But sadly, that cherished tradition that long existed has been blatantly evaporated and ignored by the current team at the Ministry of Youth and Sports thereby casting doubt on its ability to be trust-worthy, and the current leadership has been dragging its feet to make public the NCSM financial records.
The National County Sports Meet (NCSM) from all indications has been regarded a public competition especially as it directly involves the representation of the local counties, and that, it is customarily captured in a budget line under the ministry of Youth and Sports’ (MYS) annual budget. That is to say, the fund is to be expanded for the purpose of successfully holding the NCSM. As such, the regular publication of the NCSM financial reports is banding in attempt to clear the doubts, thereby communicating a strong sense of integrity and accountability.
The month-long competition involving the 15-political subdivisions also draws a cheerfully exceptional and record attendance as every stage of the competition gets even more intriguing considering who advances to the next stage.
Over the years, the NCSM has attracted a good number of sponsorship from the business community excluding what is provided by Government in the National budget. Those packages serve as additional financial boost, but don’t limit the purchasing of tickets by counties’ supporters to attend County Meet matches ranging from the quarter final stage to the grand finals respectively.’
The competition has never been short of attendance as indigenous Liberians without hesitation, too weak in their numbers, to cheer their respective counties of origin including those who are residents of Monrovia.
Previous governors of the NCSM inked a strong precedence by making it their responsibility to make public disclosure of narratives from the period of the NCSM, that is to say, they took the lead by publicizing the financial report from the competition detailing in cents and dollars how much was generated.
Over the period, The INQUIRER Newspaper has taken keen interest in ascertaining the real reason behind the ministry’s refusal to make public the financial records, as in what was recorded in sponsorship money and gate-intakes from the quarter final stage to the grand finale. That also includes answers as to how the Ministry of Youth and Sports expanded proceeds from the County Meet.
What was interestingly gathered appeared like a form of ‘syndicate’ presided over by Minister D. Zeogar Wilson, the MYS boss who has resisted every effort ensuring that information, which is the NCSM financial report, doesn’t reach or land in the hands of the local sporting media for public consumption.
It gathered that Minister Wilson has been overly protective of the report, even though some elements within the corridors of MYS have disagreed with such a defiant posture of the minister. Insiders informed The INQUIRER Sports that Minister Wilson has referred to publications calling for the disclosure of the NCSM financial report as a trash, cleverly designed by one ‘sport reporter’ who is seeking relevance at the ministry’s expense.
“You will keep writing for County Meet Financial Report until the competition ends again next year,” those were some of side comments coming from members of the MYS.
According to insiders who spoke on anonymity, Minister Wilson and others were advised to share copy of the NCSM financial report to the media for onwards publication, but in an aggressive manner, the Youth and Sports boss rejected, and later opted to distribute copy of the County Meet report to members of the National Legislature instead.
What is even more troubling is how Minister Wilson has ignored the aspect of the public’s right to know, thus suppressing every attempt to distribute copy of the County Meet financial report for public scrutiny.
The million dollars question that sports pundits continue to ask is, “What is the minister trying to hide, are there excess baggage contained in the report that could raise suspicion?”

How does Minister Wilson expect the public to critique the credibility of the NCSM financial report, is another valid argument already circulating in the corridors of sports gatherings.
It is almost a year now since the 2018/2019 NCSM was concluded, and customarily, the organizers usually announce the total amount generated from the competition including what was raised at each stage. Up to date, the Ministry of Youth and Sports headed by Trenton-based, D. Zeogar Wilson, has blatantly brushed aside calls to make public what was collected in totality. Disappointingly, the ministry has even ignored a previously guided precedence thereby insisting that they are not answerable to the public.
This ministry’s defiant posture could jeopardize the public’s trust in the organizers of the competition, owing to the fact that those who come with equity must come with clean hands. It could further suggest that an irreversible foul was committed in the middle of the process since the writings on the wall now say no to the public getting any financial report from the last hosted NCSM.
Already, Orange GSM Liberia has committed US$40.000 as lead Sponsors of the National County Sports Meet. Similar to the previous edition, the 2019/2020 National County Sports Meets (NCSM) promises to be another remarkable one. This is based on Orange Liberia’s continuous commitment to support the country’s biggest sporting event.
With few more days to the kickoff of this year’s edition of the tournament, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has also been engaging key financial institutions including the business community to assist in sponsoring the tournament, but its deliberate and lackadaisical approach at giving the public a comprehensive financial report as in how much was generated during the competition, places a doubt and dark cloud over possible investment in the process. When will the report be made available for public scrutiny is what we are yet to known. The ministry has also asked that we submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request for copy of the report if the public surely has an interest in knowing. D. Webster Cassell writes 0778924412/0886924412