Ministry of Youth and Sports to be restructured - Ayariga

The Minister of Youth and Sports Hon. Mahama Ayariga at the meeting with eminent sports administrators in Ghana revealed that the Ministry of Youth and Sports need to be restructured to meed modern trends. He said the structures of the Ministry ought to be reviewed and create offices for Marketing, Branding, Consultancy and other services that any modern sports organisation needs.

He noted that the Winneba Sports College which now has a new director would be improved with modern facilities to be able to camp nation sports men and women, as well as be a resource center of sports excellence.


The Minister of Youth and Sports who called on the eminent sports administrators to find new ways to build Ghana Sports on a sound footing said ways and means must be found to finance sports disciplines and programmes.


He called on corporate Ghana to support in the funding of sports especially the oil and telecom companies who must invest in the least financed sporting disciplines which many people love to watch or participate in.


The Minister said other alternatives in financing sports like sports lottery would be considered, as well as the taxing on cigarettes and liquor which are not sporting friendly.


He noted that the various sporting Associations have been fighting over money over the years and it is about time there is a stop to unprofessional habits.

The Sports Minister also urged retired sports coaches and administrators to offer their services before they are called home by the good Lord.


He said the National Health Insurance Scheme would also be considered to support sports as a healthy nation is always wealthy and efforts should be made to sensitise people on the advantages of sports.


According to Hon. Mahama Ayariga, competitions should be held often and regularly to put the national sportsmen and women in shape at all times, and was said that of late school sports programmes are non existent or on a very low key.


He also considered the involvement of the district assemblies and all stake holders to create a consensus to promote sports for competition and recreation. He commended the sports administrators who gathered at the Best Western Airport Hotel to deliberate on Ghana Sports.


The sports administrators came out with laudable suggestions and recommendations like rebranding Ghana Sports, getting the right personnel for the various sports disciplines, attracting insurance, organising regular competitions on regional and national basis as well as attending international sports meets to rob shoulders with other nationals.

They also recommended the collaboration of the National Sports Authority with stake holders and the media especially, aside setting up sports libraries in all the regional capitals and the provision of transport for officials and sports people.


The provision of first class medical facilities for testing of doping and equipment for scoring and analysing sports events were also mentioned by the committees that were formed to find the way forward for Ghana Sports.


At the end of the event, almost all the participants agreed that sports must be high on the national agenda, because it is a tool for advertising, marketing, promotion, employment and recreation.