By Siaway T. Miapue – siawaytmiapue@gmail.com
Fans gather for a 2025 County Sports Meet match where accessibility remains a challenge for many persons with disabilities.
Paynesville— On a vibrant match day in December, football fans surged into the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Stadium in Paynesville. County flags fly, drums boom, and supporters sing in unison, buoyed by the joy of sport.
But in the stands and around the field, a large group of Liberians — about 534,316 people, nearly 10 percent of the population, according to the Liberia Institute for Statistics and Geo Information Services (LISGIS), living with functional disabilities — are often left on the margins, struggling just to access the games they love.
For many persons with physical disabilities, entering stadiums or securing a place to sit remains a daunting task, not because they don’t care about the game, but because the facilities themselves were never built with inclusion in mind.
Lack of Accessibility in Liberia vs. Standards in Africa
Across Africa, several countries are already setting standards for inclusive sports infrastructure.
Stadiums built to FIFA and CAF standards, such as those in South Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania — are required to include accessibility features such as wheelchair seating and accessible entry routes.
Disability advocates point to these examples to highlight a growing gap between what is possible and what Liberia is delivering. In those countries, stadiums now feature designated wheelchair seating areas, smooth access routes, ramps, and facilities that allow fans with physical challenges to attend matches with dignity and ease.
But in many Liberian stadiums, many of these basic features are missing.
Jonathan G. Whye is Vice President for Operations at the Liberia Amputee Association and a member of its executive committee. For him, this exclusion is not abstract.
Years ago, while playing football on a poorly-maintained field, Whye — who already lives with an amputation —recalled sustaining an abrasion to his knee when he fell on worn-out turf at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium.
His experience underscores some of the broader truths that most sports grounds in Liberia are often ill-equipped for those with even minor mobility challenges.
“Some stadiums, like in Tanzania, have places where wheelchair men can go to VIP around the stadium wing,” Whye told journalRage in an interview. “They built a special road for them.”
In Liberia, he said, “this place was built ever since, so we can’t blame the government. But what we are telling the government now is that anywhere they build as a public area, they should make way for the disabled people.”
Even just attending matches, Whye said, can feel like a struggle for respect and recognition.
“By right they are supposed to give us special access passes anytime for games here,” he said. “But we can’t get any access pass here. When you get your access pass, you’ll know that yea, our government respects us.”
Progress Without Accessibility
Over the past few years, the Liberia Football Association (LFA) has moved to improve football infrastructure across the country. New pitches have been constructed and existing ones upgraded in a bid to strengthen the sport at the grassroots level.
In late 2025, for example, the LFA renovated and dedicated the Gompa City Pitch in Ganta, Nimba County, a project celebrated as a boost for local football development.
But disability advocates say these improvements did not include access features for persons with disabilities, meaning fans with mobility challenges, and even players with disabilities, are still excluded from full participation.
Anthony Kokoi, Public Relations Officer at the LFA, acknowledged the gap but said accessibility has not been a priority in past projects.
“It’s not like we are ignoring the fact that we have to give access to people with disabilities or people who are physically challenged,” Kokoi said. “But while doing our best cannot be hundred percent, we are always willing to help people who are physically challenged and those who have disabilities at those facilities.”
When asked whether the LFA has a person with disability on its executive committee to be part of decisions-making, Kokoi responded in the negative..
“There isn’t a representative [with a disability] there for now and it [there] hasn’t been a time when someone with disability applied to be a member of the executive committee and they were denied,” he said. “Because it’s open as long as you meet the criteria.”
He also recognized that accessibility features were largely overlooked in past constructions.
“Perhaps not much attention has been given to that when it comes to the construction of the playing facilities,” Kokoi said. “But it’s something that is going to be given attention once new facilities are being constructed.”
Many football projects in Liberia are partnerships where the LFA focuses on the pitch itself, leaving seating and other infrastructure to partners — which can result in accessibilities being left out of planning altogether.
Rights on Paper, Barriers in Practice
For human rights advocates, the problem goes beyond physical design. Liberia is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities (CRPD) — an international treaty that obligates governments to ensure persons with disabilities can participate in recreational activities and sporting events on an equal basis with others.
The country is also party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities in Africa, both of which emphasize the right to equal access to public infrastructure and community life.
Domestically, Liberia’s Constitution guarantees equality before the law, and national disability laws call for inclusive infrastructure and services.
But advocates say commitments remain unfulfilled.
“The constitution provides equality before the law both in practice and in law for everyone including persons with disabilities,” said Atty. Urias Teh Pour, Executive Director of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights (INCHR).
“So facilities like sporting activities and others, the government needs to provide reasonable accommodation for persons with disability. It’s their rights issue — it is not an issue of charity.”
Pour said infrastructure planning in Liberia tends to ignore disabled citizens, meaning they rarely enjoy the same benefits as other groups.
“In designing Liberia’s infrastructure, we need to be inclusive. We need to consider people who are physically challenged,” he said. “It’s a serious problem. Their enjoyment of rights is being hindered by the lack of these infrastructures.”
Atty. Urias Teh Pour, a human rights lawyer and Executive Director of INCHR- By: Siaway T. Miapue
A Seat at the Table
Beyond accessibility, advocates also want representation in the spaces where decisions are made.
“When these people are not on the table where policies are debated, nobody cares about them,” Pour said. “And we see them more or less as people who are meant for charity. I think this is a problem.”
Whye agrees — accessibility needs more than ramps; it needs visibility and voice.
“For the sitting capacity of this stadium, I recommend to the new minister to make sure that we have our own area for persons with disability,” he said.
He also wants disabled Liberians included in government and national bodies that influence policy.
“We want the government through the President’s office and the House of Legislature to pass bills so that qualified disabled people can be employed into the various ministries,” Whye said. “We have some qualified disabled people. We want to be represented at the House of Legislature.”
But there may be a flicker of hope for Whye and others.
Newly appointed Minister of Youth & Sports, Atty. Cornelia W. Kruah, during her confirmation speech promised the inclusion of persons with disabilities in her policies. “I will be the Minister for all youth,” Kruah said during her confirmation hearing.
This story was funded by the European Union under the Liberia Media Empowerment Project (LMEP). Its contents are the sole responsibility of journalRAGE and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.