National football teams not factored in Sports Ministry budget

The Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Mr. Joe Kpenge has revealed that national football teams are not factored in the sports budget released to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, yet the funds are not enough to support the other federations.

He made the revelation on Class FM in Accra when he was addressing the issue of insufficient funding for the other federations with many pointing accusing fingers at the national football teams.

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye had disclosed in a meeting with the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) that the budget allocation for sports this year is insufficient yet, football is taking a huge chunk of it.

But Mr. Joe Kpenge says the budget for the national football teams has always been separate from the general budget allocated to the Ministry, making the Minister’s claim unsubstantiated.

“The Ministry of Finance is yet to release our budget. But I realize that the almost ten national football teams we have are not seen on the sports budget, yet they are funded,” he said.

“So I suspect it is the NSA budget that is given to them because if they are not found on the Sports Ministry’s budget, then where are they? That is what I don’t understand,” he retorted.

The revelation by the Director General of the NSA appears to negate the claim by the Sports Minister that the national football teams keep swallowing the Ministry’s budget meanwhile they are not found on the Sports Budget.