President of the Ghana Olympic Committee Ben Nunoo Mensah, believes Ghana is behind schedule in its preparations towards hosting the African Games in 2023.
Ghana will host the 13th edition of the continental multi-sport event for the first time in its history and plan to stage the games in Accra, Kumasi and Cape Coast.
The country joins the likes of Congo Brazzaville, Mali, Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, Egypt, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Mozambique as the only countries to have hosted the event.
Sports Minister Isaac Asiamah, last month said that the country was on track to host the event despite the coronavirus pandemic pushing back many sporting events.
Nunoo Mensah believes there is still some way to go before the country can be ready to host the games.
“From where I sit in terms of getting our athletes to prepare and maybe putting together a road map as to what we will do with regards to winning medals at the games, I think we are a bit behind and it is reasonable,” he said in a Webinar by Sirem Africa Talk Sports, a Senegalese-based organisation.
“This is because Covid-19 hasn’t allowed us to do the things that we want to do.
“Currently by way of infrastructure I’ll say we are just about 37% of where we need to be for the Games.
“And even then, that 37% , these are existing structures that we need to do a bit of refurbishing on.”
Egypt is the most successful country in the All-Africa Games (renamed African Games) winning 1635 medals in total, whereas Ghana is ranked eleventh on the overall medal table with 185 medals.