By. Omari Jackson

PRO USA is a non-governmental organization (NGO) determined to revive interests for the support of Liberian sports. The organization recently concluded its first campaign, visiting Liberia with a team of soccer stars and playing some games there.  
Recently the organization held a well-attended meeting in Minnesota, MN and from the meeting I am told several committees were set up, with one charged to review its constitution, and among other things submit recommendations for an eventual election of its leaders.  
In the wake of the reorganization, there is also a plan to start the publication of a sports magazine to generate funds to strengthen its second visit to Liberia in December, this year.  
While all the efforts seem great and sound, I have a suggestion for the organizers, which I am convinced if considered could save it from future conflict and embarrassment.  
First of all, the PROUSA organization is an NGO, which simply means a NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION under no politician or political party.  
In its simple understanding it is an organization that is not under the authority or control of any government. If this answer is correct which I think it is, how come then a committee has been set up to consider its “Constitution and then its election of its leaders?”  
Since it is an entity that should have no control of or from the government of Liberia, why should the officers go through an election process to select its leaders? Please make no mistake about my position since I am aware that there are several members who believe that for any organization to be effective, there should be a check and balance and those who head it should be selected by those it’s supposed to serve.  
However, with that in mind, there is a problem here.  
First of all before Mr. Duana Siryon dreamed about the organization, those it supposed to serve did not have any idea about it. And as far as those who will benefit from the origination are concerned, they have no idea of any such organization at all.  
So like a YMCA, Red Cross and any other NGO, their leaders are selected by a board of directors, meaning credible individuals who share the ideals or belief of the originators of those organizations, and they are functioned under an Executive Director.  
Consider the International Olympic Committee for example. When the Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin saw the need to revive the Ancient Olympic Games, after several attempts had failed by some individuals, he assumed the role as its second president.  
The regulation (not Constitution) of the IOC at the time said the leader of the IOC should come from the “country” where the Games were organized, and therefore the first president, selected by its congress went to Mr. Demetrios Vikelas of Greece, since the first Games were held in Greece.   I am using this argument since PROUSA is born from an idea dreamed about by Mr. Duana Siryon’s burning desire to get Liberians to return to love sports in Liberia.  
Let’s continue with the Olympic story to see some parallels in it. Now the idea for the revival of the Olympic Games, as noted came from the Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin, who had studied sports in Great Britain with some interest.  
But was the Frenchman satisfied with the man who was to become the first president of the Olympic Committee (Games)? There is mounting of evidence that he was, for an IOC source explained it this way: “Mr. Vikelas had no particular connection with sport when he came from Greece, representing the Pan Hellenic Gymnastic Club, to the Congress in Paris in 1894, at which Baron de Coubertin suggested the revival of the Olympic Games. Despite his lack of technical knowledge, he supported the newborn project most enthusiastically. No one worked harder or with more perseverance than he to persuade his fellow countrymen and the Greek government that they should support this ambitious project. His efforts were finally crowned by success.” You get the idea?  What was the role of the man who suggested the revival of the Olympic Games? According to www.olympic-museum.de/president : “Everyone knows the history of the Games, but what is generally overlooked is the ceaseless labour, the tenacity and the perseverance which the Baron de Coubertin was forced to exert in order to realize, accomplish and perfect this vast and important work.”  
It goes on, “It is to him that we owe the whole of the main organization of the Olympic Games which benefited from his methodical and precise mind and from his wide understanding of the aspirations and needs of youth. He was, in fact, for many years the sole director and so shaped the form and character of the Games. The rules and regulations, and the athlete`s oath, came from him, as well as the basic arrangement of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.” (Emphasis mine…Omari Jackson)
Like Mr. Siryon, who is the originator of PROUSA, this organization will either survive or die with the efforts he puts behind it. Like de Coubetin, it was Mr. Siryon who thought about the golden ideal for the development of the idea for the support and education of sports in Liberia, and therefore it is my recommendation that rather than “craft” a Constitution to govern PROUSA, there should rather be something like “regulations” that should govern PROUSA.  
And what is the idea behind my suggestion?  
You don’t have to go far away to get it. Have you heard of ULAA? Or ALJA? Except you live in a cave, the internal conflict that has bedeviled ULAA is disheartening to say the least, and all because of the illusion of its political nature.  
For ALJA, this meant ‘Association of Liberian Journalists in the Americas’ it could not survive the internal conflicts and was buried, and maybe it is waiting the second coming of Jesus Christ! 
And I am sure you know the source of their problem, and if you don’t then here it is: it is the “Constitution” that turned those organizations into ‘political organizations” rather than Non-Governmental Organizations.
Until ULAA and such organizations return to assume their proper roles in the lives of its members, you should always be prepared for the ‘return of the internal conflicts,” in their administrations.
Now to complete the Olympic story, Pierre de Coubetin became the 2 nd president of the International Olympic Committee, for, like our own Siryon, he was aware of the importance of the organization and what it was needed for its survival.
Though politics had bedeviled the Olympic Games due to influences of powerful nations in the past, when such nations would refuse to send their athletes to the Games due to their political differences with other participating nations, the IOC has practically stayed out of politics up to this day.
Since political maneuverings are out of the IOC, there is respect from all quarters of the world, and much has been achieved.
The objective of PROUSA is the development of sports and the provision of scholarships for Liberian students, according to a source, and these will be realized if attention is focused on what it can achieve and therefore anything that resembles the influence of ‘politics’ should be thrown out of it. My suggestion is also that anyone whose heart is moved to join the movement should do so to work alongside the originators and respecting the ‘regulations’ that may govern it. When attention is focused on the needs of Liberian youths, there will be little attention on individual’s desire to ascend to power for its name sake.
The organizers should use the experiences of Liberian organizations as yardsticks to avoid confusion in the future.    
Author’s Note: Omari Jackson is a graduate of the International Olympic Academy in Ancient Olympia, Greece, a journalist and lectured sporting organizations in Liberia. He attended his first Olympics as a journalist at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Game.