NSA staff accuse Normalisation Committee boss of attempting to privatise national stadia

Staff of the National Sports Authority (NSA) have accused Dr Kofi Amoah, the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Normalisation Committee and sports consultant, Rex Danquah of initiating clandestine moves to privatise the management of national stadia.

The staff in an eight-point petition to the Board Chairman of the NSA, Kwadwo Baah Agyemang also alleged that some persons attached to the Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Kwame Asiamah (NPP, Atwima Mponua) are usurping the powers of the NSA.

The staff have subsequently declared Rex Danquah a persona non grata at all NSA facilities across the country and advised him to refrain from commenting on NSA-related matters.

The leadership of the board also issued a two-week ultimatum within which they expect the NSA Board to act on the petition.

"Hon. Board Chairman, let us at this stage also bring to the attention of the Board another self-acclaimed "messiah" or "Einstein" of sports in Ghana, Rex Danquah," the petition said.

"This gentleman was also once a staff of the National Sports Council as the Estate Officer. He was sacked and since then he has made it his aim to run down the NSA on any given platform.

"His much-touted track record in stadia management or facility management is wobbling to say the least. He has no proven track record as
far as stadium management is concerned".

When contacted Mr Rex Danquah declined to comment and said he was not interested in a rebuttal. 

The staff described as a falsehood, recent pronouncements by Dr Amoah who alleged that furniture, as well as electronic gadgets at corporate boxes at the Accra Stadium, were stolen two weeks after AFCON 2008.

Rex Danquah

"It is no wonder that these two gentlemen (Rex Danquah and Dr. Kofi Amoah) always wait for the state to renovate or refurbish facilities to an appreciable standard before they start their cheap smear campaign against NSA in their surrogate media to solicit public sympathy for their clandestine and selfish motives of getting facilities privatized.

"Essentially, what the NSA workers are saying is that they should use their so-called competence/wizardry for financial re-engineering to build their own sporting facilities like Marcel Desailly has done with the Lizzy Sports Complex and what other serious well-meaning Ghanaians are currently doing".

The staff also requested that the NSA Board chairman retrieves the site plan of the Accra Stadium which they say is in Mr Danquah's possession.

They also questioned the role of the Technical Advisor to the Sports Minister, Dr Owusu Ansah who they accuse of usurping the functions of the Technical Department of the NSA as stipulated in the Sports Act, 2016 (ACT 934).

"Per the Act, the NSA Technical Department is supposed to be the Technical wing of the MOYS that provides technical advice, guidance and inputs into the implementation of all sports policies, programmes and events formulated by the Sector Ministry.

"In an era where His Excellency, the President is advocating or championing the strengthening of State Institutions and not individual persons, the Appointment of Dr. Owusu-Ansah as the Technical Advisor contravenes the good plans and vision of His Excellency".

The petition was signed by the NSA’s Divisional Workers Union and Senior Staff Association chairmen and their secretaries.