Will the new Deputy Youth and Sports Minister succeed or fail?

The new deputy Minister for Youths and Sports comes in during an era when there is a lot of volatility in Sports in Ghana, precisely football.

Will he succeed or fail? This is a question a lot of sports enthusiasts have been asking and it is indeed the only conversation within the sports fraternity now. In fact, Lawyer, Moses Foh-Amoaning, a well-known sports figure has already predicted his fate. Going on record to suggest that the new deputy Youth and Sports Minister will struggle. In his own words “Perry may struggle, I don’t know his experience in sports”

But who is Curtis Perry Kwabla Okudzeto, the new deputy Youth and Sports Minister and what will really be his fate at the Sports Ministry?

Curtis Perry Kwabla Okudzeto until his appointment as the deputy Youth and Sports Minister was a Deputy Minister of Information. Perry holds a Master of Arts degree in International Public Relations from Cardiff University. He also studied Public Relations, Marketing and Advertising at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Accra.

His Relationship with Sports

In the early days of his career, the deputy Minister worked for the Division 2 Club, Keta Sandlanders Football Club based in Keta. He implemented various marketing communication activities which made Keta Sandlanders a competitive club within the Anlo District of the Volta Region.

During his tenure as the Deputy Minister for Information, he made a special appeal to Ghanaians to be patriotic about Ghanaian leagues and advocated for Ghanaians to show interest in our local games and watch a lot of matches.

''In Ghana, these days in the smallest kiosk you would see an advertisement Arsenal versus Liverpool but never Kotoko versus Hearts of Oak, If we continue to glorify the leagues of other nations, our league will not grow whether you bring Jesus Christ and make him FA president.'' He said.

Again, as Deputy Minister, he moderated the meet-the-press session the Ministry of Information held for the Ministry of Youth and Sports earlier this year and has firsthand information of how the Ghanaian press viewed the sector he is now part of.

His Tenacity

If there is one thing, Curtis Perry Kwabla Okudzeto brings to the table, then is his tenacity- that sheer determination of getting the job done regardless of the cost. It will be recalled that prior to the 2016 general elections, the internal wrangling within the New Patriotic Party gave rise to a number of activities. One of which was the mysterious suspension of Perry as the acting Communications Director of the Party. Despite this, Perry did not abandon the party as a lot of pundits predicted. He still played his part in the party, which among several other things led to the victory of the New Patriotic Party in the 2016 elections.

At the Ministry of Information, he was in charge of Operation, under the leadership of the former Minister for Information Hon. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid (PhD). Together, with the two other deputies, Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah – Minister for Information and Hon. Ama Dokuaa Asiamah Agyei. They all worked together to set-up and run the Ministry of Information which hitherto didn’t exist as an independent entity in the erstwhile administration.

Will he succeed or fail?

The Ministry of Youth and Sports has turned out to be a sinking sand for a lot of people, in an era like this when the Ministry has been tasked with cleaning our football arena of the country, we can only pray he succeeds and not fail.