Government to reintroduce National Sports Festival in August 2024

Mr. William Kartey Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports has said the Government is set to reintroduce the National Sports Festival in August this year.

He said after Ghana’s successful host of the 13th African Games, Accra 2023, the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo-Addo has directed the Ministry of Youth and Sports to revive the National Sports Festival.

The last edition of the Games was held in 2017 and according to the Chief Director, “the resurgence of the programme would ignite grassroots sports development”.

Mr. Kartey was speaking at a day’s multi-stakeholder roundtable on community health and sport cooperation initiative in Ghana held in Accra on Thursday.

The initiative is between the International Olympic Committee (IOC), World Health Organization (WHO) and PATH.

He added that the Ministry of Youth and Sports has developed a draft National Sports Policy that would establish the framework and structures for sport development in the medium term.

These Policy identifies key priorities and stakeholders for the comprehensive promotion, development and regulation of sport and physical activity in the country.

The Chief Director also mentioned that the African Union declared Accra as the African Sports City from 2024 until the next African Games, which is expected to take place in Cairo, Egypt in 2027.

This he explained provided Ghana with the opportunity to drive sports traffic to the city adding “in this vein, the Ministry intends to strongly promote the hosting and organising of sports competitions, tournaments, and events in Accra.

“With the provision of new sporting facilities and existing hospitality facilities, and recent success with the hosting of the 13th African Games, Accra 2023, we are in a good position to drive sports development and sports tourism in the country and position them as prime sectors for socio-economic development.”