Sports Minister defends budget slash

Sports Minister Dr. Major Retired Ahmed Mustapha has justified government’s decision to slash the budget for Sports for the 2016 fiscal year.

The sports budget has seen a slash of $42% compared to last year.

The budget of GHC39 million allocated to sports in 2015 has been whittled down to GHC22 million by the finance ministry in government's quest to complete the construction works for the Cape Coast and Ho stadia.

This is the fourth time budget allocated to sports development has been slashed sparking anger among the sports fraternity.

Stakeholders believe the development is inimical to the development of sporting disciplines in the country.

But Dr. Ahmed Mustapha believes the trend is a normal practice globally and that the sport fraternity must accept it in good fate.

“The global trend has been like that unless in the year where the country is hosting a major sporting event, with that, definitely there will be an increment.

“It is a two way thing; we need to expect funding from either the public or the private sector. But I believe we have not pursued these areas and going forward, we have to explore these outfits since the trend will still continue”, he told Starr Sports.