Sports associations fight GFA

Presidents of the various sports associations have accused the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) of neglecting them and concentrating on the activities of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

According to the Associations, MOYS has over the years channelled all budgetary allocations made for sports into the activities of the GFA, and this was gradually grinding their activities to a halt as they were confronted with financial challenges.

The Association Presidents made these accusations when they appeared before the Justice Senyo Dzamefe Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Thursday.

Ben Nunoo-Mensah President of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation (GWF) said, there were about 36 associations under the National Sports Authority (NSA), and each of them will require just 10% of the total budget for the GFA to survive.

He stated, his outfit requires only $20,000 dollars to organise national championships and participate in international competitions as well but added that, they have in the last two years been denied funding with the focus on GFA.

He said sports was for the youth and not all the youth in Ghana play football hence there was the need for the ministry to focus its attention on other sporting disciplines to ensure the total development of the youth in the country.

Mohamed Sahnoon, President of the Ghana Cycling Association (GCA), said there was no fairness and equity in the distribution of the national “sports cake”.

He slammed the current system, where a bulk of the resources have been given to the GFA, leading to the under-development of sporting disciplines in the country.

“There is no formula for the distribution of state resources, even though we asked at the beginning of the year to submit budgets to the Ministry through the NSA.

“Every sport is popular depending on the availability of resources so it is wrong for football to be described as popular whilst other less popular.” He stated.

Nestor Percy Galley, President of the Ghana Badminton Association (GBA) said, he had over the years fund the association from his personal resources.

He added that, they had incurred huge debts and have been threatened with legal action from service providers.

Over 20 presidents of the Associations and Federations made an appearance at the commission to voice out their case.