Ghana Sports — Some highlights, challenges and the way forward

This is the keynote address delivered by Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyeman-Badu II, Paramount Chief of the Dormaa Traditional Area, who was the Guest of Honour at the 2014/15 GFA/PLB Awards at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra on Friday, October 30, 2015.

Honourable Chairman, Honourable Minister for Youth and Sports, the GFA President, Members of the Executive Council of the FA, the PLB, First Capital Plus Bank, Media, distinguished ladies and gentlemen.               

Let me thank the organisers of tonight’s programme which is the 10th GFA/PLB Awards Night for inviting me to this all important programme. The GFA/PLB Awards Night as I gather seeks to honour some distinguished personalities and corporate institutions who have contributed immensely to the success of the football season.

The GFA Awards Night began in 2005 but before then there had been awards such as Toyota Most Exciting Player of the Season, which started in the mid-1980s; ABC/FA Awards organised

When it comes to sports, Ghana is a force to reckon with. In recent times, Ghanaian sportsmen and sportswomen have exhibited to the world, some superior skills in the sports disciplines. Specific mention is made of the Black Stars in 2006, 2010 and even 2014.

Also in the world of boxing we have seen excellent boxers like Azumah Nelson, Ike Quartey, Joshua Clottey and Joseph Agbeko. However, despite the success, Ghana Sports is plagued with some challenges. A cursory look at the horizon reveals a very worrying state across all major sporting disciplines, including football.

Honourable chairman, I have followed several sports discussions lately with a keen ear for solutions to the many problems that seem to confront our sporting disciplines.

The discussions often border on lack of infrastructure, lack of funding, corruption, lack of motivation, inefficient administrators and the like. From journalists to ex-sportsmen and sportswomen, administrators to sports fans, everybody seems to have their own ideas about what has to be done to ameliorate the situation.

For some of us who started following sports in the country from the 1980s, it is sad to note that there was better organisation of sports in the country from the schools level to national level than we have at the moment. What is happening now is worrying in the sense that, every competition that we attend these days, be it the All Africa Games, the Olympics, etc. ends in some sort of scandal. We cannot continue on this path and therefore need a radical shift from how sports is being organised in Ghana.

Funding has long been identified as the mother of all the problems facing the development of sports in Ghana. Every sporting discipline under the National Sports Authority suffers from this “malaise” and until we find a solution to the “no money syndrome”, the nation would not make any headway in sports.

Finding solution means finding alternate means of funding aside from Government because Government alone cannot fund sports in Ghana. Although I agree that Government alone cannot fund sports in Ghana, I am of the firm belief that Government has a big role to play in the orgainsation and development of sports, which, of course, includes funding.

Even in football, which generally is regarded as fairly resourced, it has emerged that there are serious organisational and funding issues that are hampering the development of the game at the grassroots level and also at the National Team Level. It is an undeniable fact that the Black Stars is the Nation’s Team A and would naturally swallow a chunk of the football budget, but the near neglect of the Black Queens and both male and female junior teams is unacceptable.

If the Black Stars is attracting a $3 million annual sponsorship from the GPNC, it should be possible for GNPC to give something to the junior national teams where players are nurtured to feed the Stars.

The GFA should ensure that the Black Stars pull all the National teams along by way of funding and sponsorship. The clubs are suffering even more and now playing in a continental competition is a financial catastrophe. That is where the Clubs under the umbrella of GHALCA should come together to attract corporate funding in order to lessen the burden facing it.

The way forward

Various personalities and institutions have sought to offer solutions to the challenges that have bedeviled sports in Ghana among which are the following which I adopt as my own.

• The I need for fast tracking of the Sports Bill which would seek to replace SMCD 54 OF 1976 regarding the various aspects of sports management, promotion and development in Ghana to bring to current international best practices.

• Handbook: The Sports Ministry should develop a handbook to serve as a guide to each sporting association and to clarify their responsibilities and duties as well as a list of accountability and transparency measures. This handbook should provide them with a clear indication of Government’s development priorities in sports.

• Grassroots Development: The Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports should work with various stakeholders such as football Clubs, Academics (talent development centres), Schools and colleges, research institutions, Physical Education instructors to run grassroots programmes at both national and local Communities.

The Ministry should take the lead in building solid relation with the various stakeholders and communities to propose feasible grassroots projects.

• Facilities Development: The Government should ensure district and municipal assemblies carry out their mission by using the sports component of the Common Fund to assist in using the sport component of the Common Fund to assist in provision of sporting facilities, projects and programmes of sustainable sports development. The Government should encourage private entrepreneurs to invest in local sports development.

• Patriotism: there is an urgent need to address the remunerations and bonus of our athletes and sporting personnel. The Ministry needs to reorient our athletes to appreciate the significance of wearing the national colours at international competitions.

• The Tax Relief: The taxes and levies on football clubs in Ghana makes it impossible for clubs to break even. The Minister should liaise with the FA and GHALCA to argue for tax exemption, especially in the payment of VAT on game proceeds and approximately 20 per cent levy paid for hiring and maintenance of sports facilities. This should be a temporary measure until sports development is fully developed into a business capable of paying for itself.

It is important to emphasise that sports promote unity educational, cultural, ethical values and one of the most valuable educational tool for Ghanaian children to learn the values of Discipline, Respect, Fair play, Self-esteem, Tolerance, Nationalism, Patriotism, and the sporting spirit of winning and losing.

In the absence of a national policy on sports development that addresses our perpetual funding problems, the GOC recently released a document on a proposal towards the model for sports in Ghana should be considered.

The document proposes two main sources of funding:

• Lottery Funding

• Marginal VAT on alcohol and self-drink products.

It is proposed that these funds, instead of being paid into the consolidated. Fund, would be put into a special purpose account dedicated solely to sport development and infrastructure building. Like the GETFUND, it could have an accountable, oversight body to administer it. The document, as I have been told, exists and must be pushed by appropriate institutions and personalities.