Development, Peace: Contribution Of Sports Demonstrated

“The President of the Republic, Paul Biya attaches particular attention to sports as a tool for development, living together and national integration in Cameroon. That is why he has accepted that the Day be celebrated in Cameroon for the first time.” Prime Minister Chief Joseph Dion Ngute said at the Yaounde Multipurpose Sports Complex on April 4, 2019 as he officially launched the celebration of the sixth edition of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace in the name of the Head of State, President Paul Biya.

Though the world was celebrating the event instituted by the UN in 2013 for the sixth time, Cameroon was commemorating it for the first time. The Prime Minister said, “The celebration in Cameroon is coming at the right time when our desire to live together is suddenly being tested.” He said Cameroon shared the UN commitment to make sports an instrument for the promotion of peace and development.

“Today more than ever before, sports must sew the seeds of peace, justice and national unity in Cameroon,” he said, insisting that the values sportsmen incarnate must inspire everyone to work for national construction. According to the Prime Minister, beyond being an instrument of peace, solidarity and social cohesion, sports in Cameroon is a powerful means of promoting the socio-economic integration of the population, particularly the youths.

This explains why the State usually allocates significant resources to ensure that Cameroon’s athletes take part in national and international sporting events. He said that in the same vein, public authorities have em barked on the construction of priority projects within the context of the AFCON which Cameroon will host in 2021.

The Minister of Sports and Physical Education, Professor Narcisse Mouelle Kombi and the Resident Coordinator of the UN System in Cameroon, Allegra Maria Del Pilar Baiocchi corroborated the Prime Minister’s declarations. In their respective statements, they h...