New Sports Minister comes too late — Pobee
A Kumasi-based sports administrator, Jonathan Abbey Pobee, has described the appointment of Nii Lante Vanderpuye as a shade too late for him to salvage the dwindling fortunes of sports in the country.
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He said while the lesser sports, such as tennis, hockey, cricket, boxing, athletics and basketball, among others, were retrogressing at an alarming rate due to lack of government’s financial support, football at the senior level especially, was receiving all the needed attention and resources without providing the requisite silverware expected of it.
“The new sports minister has been a sportsman almost all his life but we cannot get the best out of him at this particular time. This is because his appointment has come at the wrong time.
“With his expertise and experience in sports over the years, as well as his revolutionary instincts, he should have been the first person to be appointed sports minister under the Mahama administration, so I wonder why the Preside
“At the time Mahama took over was the time we needed somebody like Nii Lante to bring his expertise to bear on the sports ministry”, Abbey Pobee said in a telephone conversation with the Graphic Sports from Kumasi last Wednesday.
He querried the appointment coming in an election year and at a time Nii Lante would be expected to join the President to campaign vigorously to retain the government and his constituency at Odododiodio, wondering how he could combine this strenuous job with a ministry as hot as sports.
Refering to the Justice Dzamefe Commission of Inquiry and its recommendations, Mr. Pobee was of the view that if Nii Lante had been the minister by then, he would have been able to implement the recommendations to enhance accelerated development of football, in particular, and sports in general.
Explaining further, Mr Abbey said the current sports minister could have implemented article 73 of the GFA statutes on the Public Interest Committee.
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“He could have compared the bonuses of other countries to that of Ghana to enable him to offer the right bonus to the Black Stars instead of the huge bonus being given to the players now,” Mr Pobee stated.