President of the Ghana Basketball Federation (GBF), Alex Kukula, says chronic financial challenges have left the federation struggling to fund its own programmes, including domestic leagues and teams’ travel for competitions.
He said this in an exclusive interview with Citi Sports, responding to the financial difficulties facing Spintex Knights after the club qualified for the Elite 16 stage of the Basketball Africa League (BAL).
The Ghanaian champions remain stranded in Libya over unpaid flight tickets and visa-on-arrival charges totalling over $33,000, according to club co-founder Dr. Eric Opoku-Antwi.
Kukula said the federation had prepared a budget covering its programmes but struggled to secure the necessary funding.
“The federation itself is challenged with finances even to run its own programs…we did a budget that included the leagues and the trips that teams have to take but you know sourcing those funds was a bit of a challenge.”
“We took it-the budget-to the NSA (National Sports Authority) but from what I heard, I think Spintex Knights approached the (Sports) Ministry for help and they said they never saw any budget that means what we submitted didn’t get to the (Sports) Minister’s table” Kukula said.
Spintex Knights qualified for the Elite 16 after winning all three of their games in Group B of the BAL Division West preliminary phase. The next stage is scheduled for November 10 to 15 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, leaving the club facing an urgent financial challenge ahead of the competition.
