Place Ghana first - Dormaahene advises sports stars
The Paramount Chief of the Dormaa Traditional Area, Osagyefo Oseadeayo Agyeman-Badu II, has tasked the Ministry of Youth and Sports to address the remuneration of athletes and sporting officials with dispatch to end the rampant bonus rows in recent times.
He also urged the Ministry to re-orient Ghanaian athletes to appreciate the significance of wearing the national colours at international competitions. “There is an urgent need to address the remuneration and bonus of our athletes and sporting personnel.
“The Ministry needs to re-orient our athletes to appreciate the significance of wearing the national colours at international competitions,” the Dormaahene stated, attracting spontaneous applause from a large audience at last Friday’s PLB Awards held at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra.
In his keynote address as the Guest of Honour for the occasion, Nana Agyeman-Badu II wondered why the Black Stars were earning an annual $3million sponsorship from the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) to the neglect of the junior national teams which nurture players for the senior national team.
“If the Black Stars are attracting a $3million annual sponsorship from the GNPC, it should be possible for the GNPC to give something to the junior national teams where players are nurtured to feed the Stars.”
He charged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to 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,” he noted.
The bankroller of Premiership side Aduana Stars advised the ministry to develop a handbook to serve as a guide for the various disciplines, spelling out their responsibilities, as well as a list of accountability and transparency measures towards their improvement. “This handbook should provide them with a clear indication of government’s development priorities in sports,” he stated.
“There is also the need to fast-track 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,” he said.
The Dormaahene also admonished the Sports Minister, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, to liaise with the GFA and the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) to argue for tax exemption, ‘especially in the payment of VAT on game proceeds and the appoximately 20 per cent levy paid for hiring and maintenance of sports facilities.’
‘This should be a temporary measure until sports is fully developed into a business capable of paying for itself,’ he further stated.