Kumasi, (Ashanti Region) Mr E.T. Mensah, Minister of Youth and Sports, said today his Ministry will evolve a sports development policy that will provide a major improvement in infrastructure and other facilities. The Ministry will also recruit highly trained and competent personnel to ensure growth in sports. Mr Mensah was speaking at the opening ceremony of a one-week National Sports Festival at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. It is under the theme ''national unity through sports''. In all, 1,700 sportsmen and women from all the ten regions, Police, Prison Service, Armed Forces, the universities, Immigration Service, and Customs, Excise and Preventive Service(CEPS) are taking part in soccer, athletics, boxing, badminton, basketball, netball and volleyball. Other games are taekwando, table tennis and hockey. Mr Mensah said the gaiety which has characterized the games is not only an expression of the revival of the defunct National Day Games but an indication of the realization that a positive step has been taken to accelerate sports development in the country. He said the government has spent 216.6 million cedis in the organization of the festival and called on Ghanaians to assist the government in the development of sports. Mr Mensah said the government recognizes the private sector as a dependable partner in development and, therefore, counts on business houses, financial institutions and other companies as well as public- spirited indivisuals to contribute generously to salvage sports in the shortest possible time. He said companies, while investing in sports, must take advantage of the tax relief package provided by the government under the Income Tax (Amendment) regulations which makes all monies which have been declared as spent on sports promotion and development tax exempt. Mr Mensah stressed the need for district assemblies to be actively involved both in the provision of sports infrastructure and the development of sports generally. ''It is my hope that they will from now on play a worthy role in this endeavour to raise the standard of sports in the country and to make future sports festivals resounding success''. He said sports now is big business and called on sportsment and women to adopt scientific and business-like approach to their training and pursue sports as a disciplined profession. The minister said his ministry is committed to giving equal opportunities to all sportsmen and women to develop their potential to the full. He hoped the festival would achieve the cherished objective of raising standards and enabling a worthy contingent to be selected to represent the nation in the Continental African Championships, the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia, Sydney 2000, and beyond. Colonel George Brock, Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council (NSC), said with the Commonwealth Games and Olympics 2000 in view, the sports festival offers the opportunity for national sports associations to sow the seeds for the future. He hoped by the end of the festival, all participating sports disciplines would have selected the nucleus of their national teams. Col Brock said the festival has been planned to be an annuall affair to be rotated among the 10 regional capitals and hoped the revival exercise of the National Sports Festival would not rpt not be a nine days' wonder. He said taekwondo, which was a demonstration sport in 1989 festival, will now feature as a full competitive event during this year's festival. Col. Brock appealed to forces that militate against the organization of the annual sports festival to join hands to make this one successful.
Kumasi, (Ashanti Region) Mr E.T. Mensah, Minister of Youth and Sports, said today his Ministry will evolve a sports development policy that will provide a major improvement in infrastructure and other facilities. The Ministry will also recruit highly trained and competent personnel to ensure growth in sports. Mr Mensah was speaking at the opening ceremony of a one-week National Sports Festival at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. It is under the theme ''national unity through sports''. In all, 1,700 sportsmen and women from all the ten regions, Police, Prison Service, Armed Forces, the universities, Immigration Service, and Customs, Excise and Preventive Service(CEPS) are taking part in soccer, athletics, boxing, badminton, basketball, netball and volleyball. Other games are taekwando, table tennis and hockey. Mr Mensah said the gaiety which has characterized the games is not only an expression of the revival of the defunct National Day Games but an indication of the realization that a positive step has been taken to accelerate sports development in the country. He said the government has spent 216.6 million cedis in the organization of the festival and called on Ghanaians to assist the government in the development of sports. Mr Mensah said the government recognizes the private sector as a dependable partner in development and, therefore, counts on business houses, financial institutions and other companies as well as public- spirited indivisuals to contribute generously to salvage sports in the shortest possible time. He said companies, while investing in sports, must take advantage of the tax relief package provided by the government under the Income Tax (Amendment) regulations which makes all monies which have been declared as spent on sports promotion and development tax exempt. Mr Mensah stressed the need for district assemblies to be actively involved both in the provision of sports infrastructure and the development of sports generally. ''It is my hope that they will from now on play a worthy role in this endeavour to raise the standard of sports in the country and to make future sports festivals resounding success''. He said sports now is big business and called on sportsment and women to adopt scientific and business-like approach to their training and pursue sports as a disciplined profession. The minister said his ministry is committed to giving equal opportunities to all sportsmen and women to develop their potential to the full. He hoped the festival would achieve the cherished objective of raising standards and enabling a worthy contingent to be selected to represent the nation in the Continental African Championships, the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia, Sydney 2000, and beyond. Colonel George Brock, Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council (NSC), said with the Commonwealth Games and Olympics 2000 in view, the sports festival offers the opportunity for national sports associations to sow the seeds for the future. He hoped by the end of the festival, all participating sports disciplines would have selected the nucleus of their national teams. Col Brock said the festival has been planned to be an annuall affair to be rotated among the 10 regional capitals and hoped the revival exercise of the National Sports Festival would not rpt not be a nine days' wonder. He said taekwondo, which was a demonstration sport in 1989 festival, will now feature as a full competitive event during this year's festival. Col. Brock appealed to forces that militate against the organization of the annual sports festival to join hands to make this one successful.
