Ministry to Offer Right Guidance for Sports Development

The Sports Ministry has crafted a blueprint that would complement the work of all sporting associations and guide them pull Ghana sports out of the gloom in which it has been buried for quite some time now.

Inaugurating the re-constituted national sports associations' boards in Accra on Thursday, Mr Edward Osei-Kwaku, Minister of Youth and Sports said the paper would take into consideration the development of key areas relevant to the development of all sporting disciplines.

"We would like to see plans from the associations which would outline scientific methods of selecting and training of talents whiles at the same time showing where appropriate facilities, equipment and personnel could be obtained."

He tasked members of the reconstituted boards to bring to the fore plans that would clearly specify goals they intend to achieve in the short, medium and long terms and how to attract the needed resources to implement them.

Mr Osei-Kwaku said performance indicators should be put in place to ensure that they are on course adding, "performance can only improve if it follows a well laid down plan that is based on sound analysis". He reminded members that serving on sports associations is a sacrificial job and that their only reward might be in the satisfaction they get when their athletes succeed and the national anthem of Ghana is played at international competitions.

The Minister said the present state of Ghana sports makes the task of the new members very challenging because of the lack of resources to meet the high expectations of Ghanaians.

He concluded that even though the situation might look gloomy, the ministry has faith since it is gradually assembling the calibre of people who are capable of turning the situation from a state of despondency to that of hopefulness.