Nii Lante Vanderpuje, former Youth and Sports Minister
A former Youth and Sports Minister in the erstwhile John Mahama administration, Nii Lante Vanderpuje has said there is no linkage between government’s social intervention policy and the budget statement with regards to youth and sports.
He said, this particular government introduced the coordinated programme on economic and social development policies for the year 2017-2024 and it was the hope of Ghanaians that, the policy would be drawn out the budget.
During the debate in Parliament on youth and sports, the MP for Odododiodoo constituency referred to NPP’s policy programme on youth and sports and said, the party bemoaned the inadequate infrastructure, poor maintenance culture, within the sector but the connection between that policy document and the budget have no bearing.
He said if government had captured such a policy in the document, then he was expecting that, "the financial policy of the government which focuses on youth and sports to have a bearing on this but you can’t really see the linkage between the economic and social policy document and the budget statement which was presented before this house."
Mr. Vanderpuye indicated that, the NPP complained about lack of infrastructure and that was why former President John Dramani Mahama constructed the Cape Coast Stadium and the Trust Sports Emporium which has stirred up the development of boxing in his constituency.
The 2018 budget he stressed has not said anything about sports infrastructure.
Former President John Dramani Mahama in his 2016 state of the nation address, promised to construct four more stadia in the Brong Ahafo, Volta, Eastern and the Upper East regions and because governance was a continuous process, he was expecting that he would have seen an indication from the current government to continue with it.
The 2018 budget he lamented did not also mention anything about the decision to convert the Winneba Sports College into a centre of excellence despite the stakeholders’ consultation and it being captured in the 2017 budget.
The legislator said the budget is an indication of expenditure and receivables but Ministry of Finance Ministry failed to capture the prize money of Ghana’s participation in AFCON 2017.
He was of the view that the money could be used to develop a sporting facility in Kumasi in the Ashanti region.
He slammed government for the amount of money allocated to the office of the president and wished the amount is slashed and invested in sports development.
"The amount of money going to the office of the president, the monitoring and evaluation office and other such offices all within the Flagstaff House, could be realigned and rather to build a multi-purpose sports gymnasium in this country so that, Ghana will have the privilege of also hosting international tournaments just like any other country. But the money is going to the Flagstaff House," he said.
Concluding his submission, the legislator said "looking at the budget, I can see clearly and it’s obvious that this government does not intend to spend on sports development in this country".
"Sports is the vehicle that harness all of us and bring us together and for once let us put aside our political caps but this government has no intention at all to do anything at all that will help in the development, management and the promotion of sports in this country."
