Minister will not pay for score board.

Mr Edward Osei Kwaku, Minister of Youth and Sports has made it clear that the government will not pay the balance of 142,000 dollars for an unsuitable score board ordered by Rytec, a Kumasi-based company for the CAN 99, the CAF under 20 soccer championship stage in Kumasi and Accra.

Already government has paid 142,000 dollars to the contractor and he is asking for another 142,000 dollars.

The score board which had been found not to be suitable for any stadium is currently being kept in a room at the Kumasi Sports Stadium and from all indications has become a liability.

Mr Osei Kwaku made this known during an inspection of facilities at the Kumasi Sports Stadium today, the first since assuming office as the substantive sector Minister.

The Minister said investigations conducted indicated that the facility could be purchased between 20,000 and 25,000 dollars and that unless the company can prove to the Ministry why it should pay for that score board the remaining amount will not be paid.

He has therefore asked the National Sports Council (NSC) to get the company to have it removed from the stadium for disposal.

Mr Osei Kwaku has also ordered that the Stadium Hostel which is now being occupied by some staff of the NSC, should be restored to its former status expressing dissatisfaction with the present state of affairs at the place.

He also directed that the NSC's share of 20 percent of gate proceeds from football matches should no longer be sent to the NSC headquarters in Accra but the money should instead be lodged in a special accounts of the Regional Sports Council in Kumasi.

The Minister therefore asked that the deduction made from the Kotoko-Hearts FA knock-out quarter-final match should be returned to Kumasi to be used as seed money for work to begin on a basketbal, volleyball and handball complex pitches at the stadium.

A site at the stadium earmarked for these facilities had been lying fallow since the major rehabilitation of the Kumasi Sports Stadium in 1978 for the 11th Africa Cup of Nations Tournament hosted by Ghana.

Another area of concern to the Minister was the area earmarked for a swimming pool and sports hall which has also been lying fallow and is presently used for colts football matches.

Mr Osei Kwaku asked the NSC to provide the Ministry with a write up on the swimming pool and the sports hall.

Dr Samuel Owusu-Ansah, Acting Chief Executive of the NSC, told the Minister that by the next three years, the swimming pool would have been ready while work on the Sports Complex project would take another two years.

On the Tartan Tracks, Mr Osei Kwaku said they would be replaced and that the Ministry wanted to make Kumasi the centre of athletics in Ghana. He said the ideal situation was to change the tracks after every eight years but this has not been the case and that for the past 23 years the tracks in Accra and Kumasi had not been changed.

He said for the moment attention will be focused on Kumasi because it will be cheaper to replace the tracks at the Kumasi Sports Stadium explaining that the re-grassing of the Accra Sports Stadium had raised the pitch about five centimetres above the tracks and will therefore cost more to replace the tracks.

The Minister wondered why the Sports Council collected money from those operating shops, drinking bars and chop bars at the stadium and yet cannot maintain the stadium.

Mr Osei Kwaku asked that those operating chop bars should keep the stadium clean other wise they would be sacked and the paces given out to those who will open boutiques and sports shops.

He said it is regrettable that there is not a single sports shop at the stadium.

He said the absence of facilities for the other discipline was not a situation which one should be proud of and called for a new beginning adding "We should start to make the stadium what everybody wants to see".

Mr Sammy Ashie the Ashanti Regional Sports Development Officer, expressed their appreciation to the Minister for bringing them back on track and promised that from now onwards they will be alive to their responsibilities.

The Minister was accompanied by Mr K.A. Gyarteng, Chief Director, Ministry of Youth and Sports and Dr. Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, Acting Chief Executive NSC.