Agenda for Ghana sport (2021 – 2024): Matters arising

Over the first two parts of the agenda for Ghana sport (2021 – 2024), I have dealt with some outstanding issues of real importance, namely the Sustainable National Sports Fund, the National Sports Policy, Justification for the new Youth Resource Centres, and Management of Existing Facilities & Sustainability.

The third part dealt with the Renaissance Plan (2019 – 2024), Rebranding Schools and Colleges Sport, and Role of MMDAs in Grassroots Sport.

The final part 5 will deal with Managing National Teams, Pursuing Sport for Academic Credits at all Educational Institutions, Preparing Team Ghana for the African Games 2023, Debts Management in Sports, Regulations to be Enacted under the Sports Act, 2016 (Act 934), and Personal Pieces of Advice for the honourable Minister for Youth and Sports.

The issues which this penultimate Agenda will discuss will include a New Impetus for the National Sports Authority, the Biannual National Sports Congress, Added Dimension for GFA”s Quest To Compute Football Contribution to the GDP, and Engaging Tertiary Institutions to Synchronize their Sporting Calendars in One National Programme to Add Value for Sponsorship.

New Impetus for National Sports Authority

As one of the resource persons that the Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth, Culture and Sports engaged prior to the passing of the Sports Act, 2016 (Act 934) at a retreat at the Accra City Hotel in December 2016. I have more than enough knowledge to question the Nation Sports Authority if in my estimation they are not working up to the spirit and objectives of the Act.

Indeed, I have been part of several attempts by various Ministers of Youth and Sport since the days of Hon. Enoch Teye Mensah, then MP to the last when it was passed by Parliament, Hon. Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, MP and former Minister for Youth and Sports on 16th December 2016; and therefore more than conversant with the objects and functions of the NSA.

The object of the greatest interest to me (2)(c) “to encourage the private sector to contribute to the funding, development, and promotion of sports”; and to achieve this and other objects, the NSA SHALL facilitate the organization of National Games; issue licenses in respect of matters relating to sports; ensure the development, establishment, and management of public sporting facilities in the country; and encourage the private sector in the development and management of sports facilities in the country.”

The NSA SHALL furthermore “undertake research and development related to sports; promote, encourage and secure the adoption of policies of gender equity, equal opportunity and access to sports, child protection in sports and drug-free sports; and perform any other functions that are necessary for the attainment of the Objects of the Authority.”

The first four (4) years of the passage of the Sports Act, 2016 (Act 934) have been without any actions whatsoever from the NSA, whilst the Act does not also frown on positioning the private sector at the centre of some of the plans to achieve the attainment of the objects of incorporation. This means nothing stops the NSA from partnering with the private sector in the management of sports facilities in the country.

Whilst I accept the threats of the COVID–19 Pandemic as most devastating on the organization and development of sports worldwide, Ghana inclusive, I want to believe the NSA could review their own function and objects of incorporation as under the act and start working on a roadmap in collaboration with all sporting Federations and Associations so that by the end of the second quarter of the year, June 2021 these could be forwarded to the Ministry of Youth and Sport for action.

Again, the NSA should have a second look at the sources of Funds of the Authority towards maximizing the annual accumulation of funds for its operations, including soliciting professional consultations to grow this to enable it to deliver its core mandate. It should also engage the MOYS for the early launch of the National Sports Fund as a complementary source for some of its activities.

There is also the issue of ambush marketing as part of the Miscellaneous Provisions, which deals with persons engaging in the act without the written authorization of the organizer of a sporting event, that person broadcasts, displays, makes, publishes, or televises any advertisement, communication statement, mark or image or to be broadcast, displayed, made, published or televised is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than five thousand penalty units or not more than twenty thousand penalty units or to a term of imprisonment of not less than two years and not more than five years.

What I expect the NSA to engage themselves with on the Miscellaneous Provision on Ambush Marketing, is to engage all stakeholders on this and fashion out the way forward to their benefits – this engagement I would expect the NSA and the MOYS to host by the end of the first quarter of this year, March 2021.

For the purposes of those of us who are the might of laypeople to question why Kumasi Asante Kotoko FC should cause the arrest of a supporter wearing a fake Club jersey, ambush marketing means the connecting by persons of their products with a particular sporting event or club, in the minds of potential customers, without the consent or awareness of the organizers of the event or club, in order to increase sales, gain media attention and publicity and without having to pay sponsorship for the event.

This, definitely, serves as a warning to all those interested in ambush marketing to be aware that this law is ready to bite and to sanitize the emerging national sports industry and I expect the MOYS in collaboration with the NSA to start this education campaign in earnest by the month of April 2021.

However, another major portion of the function of the NSA is to assist the Moys to make regulations to provide for licenses in respect of matters relating to sports and to provide for fees to be charged in relation to the licenses.

Indeed, under the Regulations, clause 29 of the Sports Act, there are quite a number of the Regulations I would expect the NSA through the MOYS to initiate and get passed on various issues like standards for the operation of sporting facilities, health safety standards at sports centres and facilities and the establishment and operation of sports academies before the end of the year, December 2021.

The Bi-Annual National Sports Congress

I have had the opportunity to write and publish a whole article on “Towards the 1st Biannual Sports Congress In 2019…Setting New Agenda for Ghana Sports” in various media platforms including the Graphic Sports for a no-show by the National Sports Authority.

Unfortunately, the year 2021 should have seen the NSA hosting the 2ND EDITION of the Congress and build on the lapses of the maiden edition but this was not to be.

Because it is a small part of the Act, I would be ready to go to the law courts for interpretation and determination to force the NSA under the MOYS to host and organize the 1st Biannual Sports Congress, 2021 by the end of the third quarter in September.

Added Dimension for GFA’s Quest to Compute Football Contribution to GDP

The Ghana Football Association (GFA, under the Presidency of Kurt E. S. Okraku, has expressed the desire to undertake the exercise of computing Association Football’s Contribution To Ghana’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP), more than a worthy cause though, except I would advise that they are enjoined by all the other Federations, Associations, National Sports Authority And The Ministry Of Youth And Sports for the bigger picture – Ghana Sport Contribution to Ghana’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

The results of such an exercise will be of immense value to three (3) major stakeholders, the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ghana Revenues Authority (GRA), and the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) as well as go a long way to consolidate sport as an emerging industry, backed by proper figures than the academic approach we have been touting for the past how many years.

I would thus entreat the GFA to approach the MOYS, the NSA, the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), all the sporting Federations and Associations for a meeting to discuss the project, review cost implications and share these costs for the work to begin and be submitted by the end of the second quarter, June 2021.

Engaging tertiary institutions to synchronize their Sporting Calendars into National Programme to add value for sponsorship

The way the Senior High Schools (SHS) have been structured for their duration by the number of years, i.e. three (3) years, it stands to reason that the supply of the best of talents for the various federations and associations would be at the tertiary levels.

Currently, these tertiary institutions group themselves differently to the extent that this has also affected their sports federations; more out of the fear that some institutions recruit mercenaries to represent their institutions. I don’t blame the sceptics one bit because we were in this country when a nice project of VALCO FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS turned into something else, even though in the long run it unearthed great talents for our national teams, to the shame of a number of prestigious secondary schools then.

However, the national interests would be better served, whilst the numbers would make their national sporting events more attractive for major sponsorships and thereby financially rewarding to the students.

The current stratified groupings are Ghana Universities Sports Associations (GUSA), Ghana Technical Universities Sports Association (GHATUSA), the Private Universities Student Sports Association of Ghana (PUSSAG), and the Colleges of Education Sports Association (COESA).

I am inclined to believe that if the MOYS in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MOE) meet with these four (4) associations of tertiary institutions, there could be new ground rules to be evolved towards a common platform to showcase all their talents under on national tertiary games worthy of mention and where all national sporting federations could pick stars for continental and global games.

This could take the whole year of 2021 through delicate negotiations, involving Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of Universities to reach a consensus in the supreme interest of our nation, Ghana.

This is the penultimate article on the series of Setting Agenda for Ghana Sports for the attention of the new Minister for Youth and Sports designate, Hon. Mustapha Ussir in the hope that he assumed office with a proper agenda to execute than the normal merry-go-round.