Nii Lante Vanderpuye vows to recover misused funds for incomplete sports infrastructure if NDC wins 2024 election

Former Ghana's Minister of Youth and Sports Nii Lante Vanderpuye has vowed to ensure full accountability for funds spent on sports infrastructure, specifically focusing on the stalled Youth Resource Centres project.

The initiative, launched by the current government in 2018, aimed to construct 10 multipurpose Youth and Sports Resource Centres across the country.

Each facility was designed to include a 10,000-seat FIFA-standard football pitch, an eight-lane athletic track, tennis and basketball courts, a handball court, a gymnasium, a counselling centre, a youth ICT hub, an entrepreneurship centre, and a restaurant.

The centres were to be located in Kaneshie, Nuwunu-Ho, Koforidua, Axim, Nyinahin, Dunkwa-On-Offin, Dormaa, Yendi, Navrongo, and Wa, with completion originally expected within nine months of commencement.

However, despite millions of dollars being invested, only two of the centres have been commissioned Koforidua and Ho, while the rest remain incomplete and neglected, drawing widespread criticism and calls for a probe into the project.

In an interview on ChannelOne Sports, Nii Lante Vanderpuye, who is also the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate for the Odododiodio Constituency, spoke about the future of the centres if the NDC comes into power after the 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

He pledged that any misused funds would be recovered, and the centres would be completed.

"Any facility that government and taxpayers' money has been spent on will be completed and used for its intended purpose," he stated.

"The government will also investigate whether funds were used judiciously. If it's found that money was misused, steps will be taken to recover it. If it was spent appropriately, no problem."

He added, “If by God's grace, I am in a position to ask questions and demand answers from my predecessor, I will. I don’t care who they are. I will not inherit a problem I didn’t cause, and I will ensure I have answers for any issues that arise in the future.”