Ministry, NSA hold forum on sports fund
The Ministry for Youth and Sports (MOYS) and the National Sports Authority (NSA), have held a consultative forum on establishing the sports fund, is aimed at raising funds to support sports development in Ghana.
The forum held at the Accra International Conference Center (AICC), on Thursday, brought together stake holders in the sports industry to deliberate and dialogue on raising funds for sports development in the country.
It was also aimed at removing the bottlenecks that comes with funding sporting activities in the country and to accelerate the growth of sports in the country.
Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Mr. Pius Enam Hadzide said the idea for the forum was to get inputs from stake holders, as the ministry seeks to sample different views on sports funding and management.
Mr. Robert Safo Mensah, Director-General of the NSA, said creation of the fund was long overdue.
“The proposed sports fund is long overdue, in 2016 parliament passed sports Act 934 and charged the NSA to provide, develop and manage sports in the country.
“It included providing financial assistance to sports promotion in Ghana and finding ways to nurture the talents that abounds in the country,” he stated.
According to Mr. Safo Mensah, the funds that have been allocated to NSA could not cater for all the mandate of the authority, thus the consultative forum to find other avenues to get more funds for sports and also to make reforms in sports investments.
In an interview with Mr. Isaac Kwame Asiamah, Minister for Youth and Sports, said it is one of the responsibilities of the sports ministry to promote, nurture talents and to inculcate values of honesty, perseverance, volunteerism and patriotism into the youth, thus the consultation with stakeholders to get a lasting solution to sports development in the country.
According to Mr. Asiamah, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government is keen on leaving a lasting legacy in sports, thus the sports funding, which was captured in the 2018 budget read by the Finance Minister Mr. Ken Ofori-Attah saying “In 2018, the Ministry would continue the process of passing the Legislative Instruments of the National Youth and Sports Act, pursue the enactment of the draft National Sports College Bill and create a Sports Fund to improve sports development in the country.
“The Authority would also establish Youth in Sports Development program to create a platform for the youth to contribute to sports development”.
Source: GNA