...in sports development
The National Sports Council (NSC) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) are to cooperate to ensure that the national sports developmental needs are met by creating a reservoir of talents for all sporting disciplines.
Dr Emmanuel Owusu Ansah, Acting Chief Executive of the National Sports Council told the GNA Sports in an exclusive interview that it was only an alliance between the two organisations that would save the country as the NSC lacks the resources to employ sports development officers in all the district capitals.
The chief executive said the alliance would involve the hiring of Physical Education Teachers on honourary basis and they would be paid stipends to groom and tap talents for the national teams. He said though the NSC realises the need to have developmental officers at all district capitals, they are constrained by an employment ceiling, which pegs their employees at 408.
Dr Owusu Ansah said the only way to employ new hands is "to wait for people to die or retire" as the council cannot circumvent the law on employment and does not have the resources to hire full time personnel on their own. He said Ghana would go farther in sports development if all district assemblies would commit a percentage of their revenue in that direction.
The Chief Executive said the districts would have direct benefits from such ventures as their youth would get off the streets and crime and concentrate on sports, "which in most cases, has become a profession." Dr Owusu Ansah said by so doing, the youth would become healthier and their productivity would rise in whatever endeavours they might enter and the health budget of the nation would be reduced to supplement other sectors.
The chief executive said district assemblies could also construct and manage facilities, thereby lessening the burden on the NSC whose primary duty would be to provide technical assistance in the form of courses and refresher courses for developmental officers to make them abreast with the rules and regulations of international sports federations.
He said the NSC and the Ministry of Youth and Sports would assist any district that initiates a developmental programme and urged all district assemblies to give sports a pivotal attention in the disbursement of their common funds.
Dr Owusu Ansah lauded the Tepa and Konongo districts in the Ashanti Region and the Kpando district in the Volta Region for committing part of their resources to the provision of sports infrastructure and implored other districts to emulate them. Tepa and Konongo district assemblies are constructing sports stadiums while the Kpando district assembly is building handball courts preparatory to the hosting of the national championship.
