Mr Minister of Sports,
The Senegalese Federation of Judo and Associated Disciplines (FSJDA), received from the Directorate of Construction and Land Use Surveillance (DSCOS), the order to vacate the premises which currently house the National Dojo Master Amara DABO and this within 72 hours following the summons.
However, this injunction emanating from a Directorate of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and addressed directly to a private structure even if it is responsible for a public service mission, without going through the delegated power of this power poses a very serious problem. of administrative orthodoxy understood in the sense of respect for the hierarchical chain.
But, beyond this formal remark, the measure is inappropriate in more than one way and really poses fundamental problems which are expressed in terms of our leaders’ understanding of the challenges of modern sport in our societies.
Indeed, how can a State having opted for co-management in the implementation of its sports policy be able to so casually issue a summons to one of its branches with threats of implementation within such short deadlines? without proposing alternative solutions.
As for knowing that the national dojo Master Amara DABO beyond the emotional and sentimental dimension that it maintains with generations of judokas, contains tons of equipment with a value estimated at hundreds of millions of francs.
Then, in the name of what, can a State, with a very pronounced deficit in sports infrastructure, particularly in the field of martial arts, alienate the only national dojo in the country and for, we do not know what other project it considers more significant or more serious than the training of an athlete?
How can a State, aware of the challenges of sport, give itself the right to deprive a federation in the race for the qualifications for the “Paris 2024” Olympic Games and in preparation for the Dakar “2026” Youth Olympic Games? its training center for its national teams, its competition venue and its head office?
Finally, why can a State, concerned with safeguarding its sporting memory, allow itself to despoil a heritage which has seen hundreds and hundreds of African champions who, through their sacrifices, have significantly contributed to the influence of the nation?
It is for all these reasons that I authorize myself to call upon you, Mr. Minister, you who are responsible for the implementation of the sports policy defined by the President of the Republic, in order to ask you to kindly be alongside the FSJDA, so that judo and its associated disciplines can emerge unscathed from this ordeal imposed on it by other structures which do not have sport as their main concern and which defend interests that we are unaware of. Because until now we are not edified on the reasons for our expropriation and for the benefit of who or what to be worth all this unjustified and borderline suspicious haste and the materialization of which will remove from judo and the associated disciplines any ambition to develop.
Please accept, Mr. Minister, the expression of my perfect gratitude and my deep respect.
Souleymane Boun Daouda DIOP, 5th Dan black belt, world judo referee.
NB: allow me to hope that, despite the context marked by the organization of the African Football Cup, the file of the National Dojo Master Amara DABO, will have a reserved place in the emergencies of the sports department.
2024-01-10 15:36:30
#salty #letter #Souleymane #DIOP #world #referee
