NPP Manifesto: The fulfilled and unfulfilled sports promises of 2016

The New Patriotic Party on Saturday launched its manifesto for the 2020 elections.

The manifesto detailed the government's plans for all sectors of the economy and sports was no exclusion.

In sports, the government set aside four things it intends to achieve should it be given the nod to lead Ghana for the next four years.

If elected, the party says it will build four Youth Resource Centres in six new regions and also construct a National Olympic Stadium as well as introduce Zongo Youth Football Talent Hunt.

2016 promises

Unlike 2020 where the party made only four promises, the NPP earmarked nine key assurances to Ghanaians.

The party promised to enact the Sports Bill which was started by the Kufuor government.

In the 2020 manifesto, despite providing updates on some promises made for the sector, the NPP was silent on this.

It is, however, worth noting that the Sports Bill was enacted by the Mahama-led administration.

Develop in partnership with the private sector, Youth Development & Sports Centres in all Regions. Each centre will house a fully-equipped library, ICT hub, social hall, multipurpose pitches and courts.

The NPP followed through with its promises and began the construction of youth resource centres across the then ten administrative regions of the country.

The projects were due to finish in nine months, however, two years on, not a single one is ready for use.

The party wrote in its manifesto that works are still on going,

Complete the construction of the University of Ghana stadium started by the Kufuor-led NPP government

Not complete. Like the ten regional youth centres, the University of Ghana Stadium is still under construction though remarkable progress has been made.

Pursue the vision of providing modern multi-sport stadia for the regions currently without one, namely Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Upper East, Upper West and Volta

None of the above named regions has a stadium though they are all beneficiaries of the ten youth resource centres.

No multi-sports stadium has been built in any of them.

It was conspicuously missing in the listed updated projects in the 2020 manifesto

Establish three sports colleges in collaboration with the private sector

Not done. Not a single sports college has been established in any region. In fact, the only Sports College in Winneba which they promised to renovate has not witnessed the progress.

Develop a Youth in Sports module to support young sportsmen and women and to create job opportunities for them

The party claims to have achieved this but it is difficult to point to any project. The only initiative that comes to mind is the YEA program for the various sporting disciplines but that module was designed as a coronavirus support package and no one in 2016 anticipated the coronavirus pandemic.

Invest in a special Women-In-Sports programme to help unearth and support female athletes and sports talents across the country, and award scholarships to promising young athletes so they can develop in the best of environments

Again, in the 2020 manifesto this project was marked as ‘done’ though it is difficult to assess its impact.

GhanaWeb will be speaking to officials of government to evaluate the impact of these promises.