Minister directs managers of national stadiums to produce maintenance manuals

The Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Kwame Asiamah, has directed all managers of the various national sports infrastructure to produce a maintenance manual which will be used to plan the renovation of such facilities on a regular basis.

The minister made this known last Friday after completing an inspection tour of the National Sports College in Winneba.

"I am insisting that every sporting facility must produce a maintenance manual as a matter of necessity and urgency, I am demanding a maintenance manual for all the sports infrastructure that we have," Mr Asiamah said during a press briefing after a tour the National Sports College (NSC).

He added, "The maintenance manual is a comprehensive document that explains what should be done at any point in time in terms of routine maintenance.

"It covers every facility in a stadium so that document we don't have it and that has proved disastrous when you look at the current state of our national sports facilities. wherever we went we were never showed the maintenance manual, which gives u the period of maintenance and what to do at any point in time".

Earlier, the minister and his team including the deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Pius Hadzide and the Technical Advisor of the Ministry of Youth Sports, Dr Owusu Ansah were given a tour of the 55 hectares by the Acting Director of the National Sports College, Mr Noah Bukari Bagerbaseh.

Mr Bagerbaseh informed Mr Asiamah that although the College was understaffed, the current staff have managed to ensure that minor renovation works such as the plastering and painting of buildings have been undertaken.

He also disclosed that the NSC was indebted to both the Electricity Company of Ghana and the Ghana Water Company but the debts were not huge enough to merit a disconnection because they have been placed on a payment plan.

The Acting Director of the National Sports College explaining a point to the Sports Minister, Isaac Kwame Asiamah during the tour.

However, the Minister noted the entire NSC campus was overgrown with weeds and the two outdoor courts were not fit for purpose.

Mr Asiamah assured that as part of measures to promote sound corporate governance at the College, an Interim Management Board will soon be inaugurated to assist with the management of the facility. 

"As we leave, one of the immediate things is that we will institute an interim board because the staff have complained especially about how funds raised from the transfers of Windy Professionals players have been spent.

"It was a one man show but we are hopeful that an interim board will provide direction to whoever will be appointed by the president to head the NSC on a permanent basis".

Mr Asiamah also commended the staff of the College for securing the 55 hectares site of the college, promising that the MOYS will continue to explore Public-Private Partnership agreements and Build-Operate-Transfer agreements with the private sector as part of efforts to develop the entire site of the college.