Former Sports Minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, considers the recent challenges within Ghana’s sports sector a source of national embarrassment, particularly after the dismissal of the Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA).
The country’s sports infrastructure has been heavily criticized, especially after the Confederation of Africa Football[CAF] banned the use of the Baba Yara Sports Stadium.
In addition, the NSA has closed both the Accra Sports Stadium and Cape Coast Sports Stadium for maintenance.
Ankrah pointed out that the NSA and the Ministry of Youth & Sports are not solely responsible for the recent mishaps, emphasizing that the Ghana Football Association should also account for the funds from the FIFA Forward project.
He said this in an exclusive interview with Citi Sports.
I think it’s a huge embarrassment and it’s a disgrace and it’s a reflection of the failure of leadership at all levels, both at the national level, the presidency, the ministry and the management of the sports authorities.
It’s just a disaster.
If you consider the fact that this is happening just when we had spent over 200 and what 60 million US dollars to host the All Africa Games and we had spent 60 million dollars to refurbish already built hostels.
Here we are, it’s barely a year after the hosting of the All Africa Games, we spent all the money, we didn’t have the sense and the foresight to even refurbish any of our pitches and talk about even the stadia itself, that is colossal and monumental failure. You understand what I mean?
It’s, you know, you say you shouldn’t politicize it, but who should we, it’s the government that has failed, a personal failure, completely. People are not thinking, you know, it’s all about what they will get.
That’s why we’re in the mess in which we are.
It’s a total disaster.
The Ghana of all countries will probably be playing our matches where Togo or Morocco is so sad.
The pitch, how much does it cost to maintain a pitch?
And then the effort to their questions to answer. I don’t have all the facts, but I read that FIFA has been giving them money.
The dismissal of the NSA Director-General follows the recent withdrawal of approval for Ghana’s last Category 3 football stadium by CAF, Africa’s football governing body.
CAF revoked the Baba Yara Stadium’s approval to host international matches due to multiple problems related to inadequate facilities.
In addition to the poor pitch, which has faced widespread criticism, concerns about the media centre, floodlight strength, changing rooms, and public announcement systems have been raised over the years, ultimately leading to the ban.
As a result of CAF’s decision, Ghana may have to host its 2025 AFCON qualifier against Sudan in October in either Côte d’Ivoire or Togo.
CAF President, Dr Patrice Motsepe, expressed his disappointment with Ghana over this situation at a meeting of the Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Executive Committee in Nairobi, Kenya on Monday, 16 September 2024.
