Editorial: How does President Mills see the Sports Ministry?

After several months of speculations, President Mills has finally come out with his first cabinet reshuffle, and as was expected, some key Ministers have lost their positions in government.

The reshuffle has been received with mixed reactions by all manner of Ghanaians, but The Chronicle’s beef with the restructuring, has to do with the Sports Ministry, where the incumbent Minister, Rashid Pelpuo, has also been booted out.

We are not saying he is the only person who can handle that Ministry, but we think the consistent changing of Ministers posted to that sector is not helping the development of sports in this country.

Indeed, over the past nine years, as many as nine Ministers have been posted and removed from the Sports Ministry alone. The list includes Mallam Yusif Issa, the late Osei Kwaku, Papa Owusu Ankomah, Rashid Bawa, the late Baah Wiredu, Osafo Maafo, Prof. Dominic Fobih, Alhaji Muntakah and until Monday, Rashid Pelpuo. This means that our Sports Ministers on the average spend just one year in office.

With the sort of challenges facing sports in this country, it would be the eighth wonder of the world for any person to transform the sports sector, judging by the rampant appointments and disappointments that go on there.

Every Minister, as an administrator, comes into his or her position with policies and programmes planned for execution, which are not fully implemented before they are removed from office.

It seems to us at The Chronicle that both the Kufuor administration and the current Atta Mills’ government did/do not attach great importance to the Sports Ministry, where the future of the country’s youth is planned.

On the contrary, the number of Ministers posted to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning during the period under review, indicate that only four Ministers have handled the sector.

This happened apparently, because the sector is considered as a sensitive one, but the Sports Ministry, which affects the lives of more than half of the country’s population, is not seen in that light.

Apart from this observation, The Chronicle also thinks the timing for the removal of the Youth and Sports Minister was wrong.

The national soccer team, the Black Stars, is currently on the ‘battle field’ in Angola, on the verge of bringing honours to this country, therefore, if the Minister who has supported the team to this level be removed at this crucial time when they are going to play their semi final match, it will surely dampen the spirit of the players.

The President should have put the change in the Sports Ministry on hold, until the tournament was over. The Chronicle is, therefore, not surprised that the Member of Parliament (MP) for Atwima Mponua, Hon. Isaac Asiamah, told his colleagues in parliament Tuesday, that he would hold the President responsible should the Stars fail to advance to the finals of the CAN 2010 tournament.

As it stands now, the harm has already been done, and we hope the current government and subsequent ones would draw a lesson from this issue and ensure that the Sports Ministry does not become testing grounds for Ministers.

Hon. Akua Sena Dansua, the new Minister of Youth and Sports, must be allowed to serve a reasonable term of office, before she is kicked out.