‘Scoreboard parts are moved around’

The newly-appointed Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Mr Joe Kpengey, has revealed that financial constraints have compelled his outfit to move vital scoreboard parts from Accra to Kumasi to get the device in good condition for matches.

He said the NSA had been saddled with that predicament for the past two years due to its indebtedness to the company responsible for the servicing of the scoreboard.

Scoreboard, floodlights challenges

Giving evidence before the Justice Dzamefe Commission yesterday, Mr Kpengey explained that the NSA had been consigned to transferring parts to fix the scoreboards in Accra and Kumasi for matches under the prevailing circumstances.

Answering a question from Justice Senyo Dzamefe about the state of the scoreboard at the Accra Stadium, he said the “issue of the scoreboard is that we don’t have all the parts of the scoreboards in Accra and Kumasi so we have been transferring parts from one place to another.”

“That’s how we have been operating for sometime now. The third one is the hockey pitch; we have to move the part there and fix it and then it will work,”  he stressed.

When the commission chairman asked whether he thought Ghananians would be happy to hear that, Mr Kpengey said he sent a memo to that effect to the Sports Minister, Mr Mahama Ayariga, last week following discussions on that and the renovation of the Accra Stadium and was expecting a favourable response.

Regarding the state of the Accra Stadium floodlights, he noted that they were functioning alright, except that some of the bulbs were not working.

“There are financial issues involved; as I speak now we have not paid one of our creditors for two years so it’s difficult going to get them to come and fix it. It requires servicing and fixing of the bulbs,” Mr Kpengey told the commission.

When Justice Dzamefe again confronted him with the question as to whether he was aware that the nation had bid to host AFCON 2017, Mr Kpengey answered in the affirmative, assuring that “as a nation we’re able to do a lot of things so when the time comes we will be there.”

Ghana-Guinea match in Tamale

He confirmed receiving a letter from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) about the hosting of Black Stars AFCON 2015 return leg against Guinea in Tamale on October 16 and advising on what needed to be done.

‘There are certain things we need to put in place to get the stadium ready for the match and the ministry is going to cater for that.’

In response to a question by Moses Foh-Amoaning, the NSA Director-General emphasised that his outfit did not owe Green Grass Technology (GGT) but rather it was the Ministry of Youth and Sports which entered into an arrangement directly with them and were making efforts to settle it.

National Soccer Academy

As a former Director of the National Sports College, Mr Kpengey’s main source of worry was the practice where products of the state-sponsored National Soccer Academy in Winneba are usually sidelined by coaches when it comes to the selection of players into the national U-17 team, the Black Starlets.

Referring to the current Starlets which has one member from the Academy, he said he had to struggle before five players were initially selected after which four were dropped.

Highly convinced that the use of the national academy players would help solve the age-cheating problem and the imbalance in the Starlets, Mr Kpengey stressed the need to entrust the job of selection of the team in the hands of neutral people other than the coaches.

“I believe we have better players than the ones in the team now. I think coaches should not be the same people who select players but a different group of people to avoid conflict of interest,” he said.

He said the state fed, accommodated and paid the school fees of the 54 national academy players of ages 12 to 17 but hardly benefited from them due to the current system.

“This is a complex challenge which, if we don’t face up to, we won’t get anywhere,” he lamented.

He mentioned former U-20 internationals, Samuel Inkoom and Michael Anaba, as some of the players who passed through the Winneba-based academy.

The commission then requested for a full list of players who have been transferred to Premiership clubs so it could track them down and collect all the outstanding transfer fees due to the state.

D.K. Poison’s visit

Ghana’s first world boxing champion, David Kotei (D.K) Poison, made a surprise appearance at the commission to make an appeal for a refund of his US$35,000 purse which he loaned to the state to procure Mackerel in 1976.

While bemoaning the downward trend of boxing in the country, Poison, who earned one cedi in his first local fight, noted that in his days they loved the sport more than money and therefore, sacrificed a lot for the nation.

SWAG’s appearance

For his part, the president of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), Mr Ackah Anthony, told the commission that the Ministry of Youth and Sports gave the association three slots for the Brazil 2014 World Cup, similar to 2010 and 2006 (two), which was in sharp contrast to the 30 they enjoyed at AFCON 2013, in addition to some juicy allowances.

William Dodzi Ezah, the SWAG General Secratary, who lodged in the supporters village in Brazil, said everything went well, except the terrible experience of having to sleep at the Fortaleza Airport after the Ghana-Germany match and missing the opportunity to watch the third game against Portugal in Brasilia due to flight problems.

The president of the Sports Callers Association of Ghana, Nkoo Joseph, suggested to the Premier League Board (PLB) to make it a requirement for clubs to get SSNIT numbers for their players.

Justice Dzamefe had earlier granted permission to Mr Moses Armah (Mospacka) to attend to an emergency in Bibiani and also travel with the Stars to Morocco for this weekend’s qualifier with Guinea and reappear next week.

Sitting continues today.