Sports authority's response to Togbe Afede on why Accra Stadium was closed for musical concert

The National Sports Authority has responded to Togbe Afede's criticism on why the Accra Stadium was closed in December to sporting activities, especially to football teams for the place to be prepared for musical concerts.

In an explanation, Prof. Peter Twumasi, the Director General of the National Sports Authority (NSA) said football teams do not pay enough to the NSA to even cover the cost of running the stadium on match days, compared to the revenue made from other activities such as musical concerts.

He said the NSA lacked the required funds to run and manage the various national sport facilities including the sports stadia hence the resort to renting these facilities for recreational purposes to accrue the needed funds to run it.

The authority said football activities fetches it less than GH¢1000 in gate proceeds at each stadium each match day, which is woefully inadequate to run such huge edifices.

It must be placed on record that NSA receives meager funds from the Ministry, it said.

In 2022, NSA received only GH¢287,000 for its goods and services across the country to manage all sporting disciplines and facilities.

It must be noted that Sporting Clubs don't pay to use our stadia, but just pay 10% of gate proceeds to NSA per match day which in most times amounts to less than One Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢1,000).  

It costs NSA almost GH¢10,000 to prepare one major stadium for a match.

We pay about GH¢80,000 per month for ECG bills in Accra Sports Stadium alone.

Same in Kumasi, Cape Coast and Tamale stadia. Water, sanitation and security together cost NSA almost GH¢50,000 per month per each of the stadia. 

Togbe Afede XIV, the Executive Board Chairman of Hearts of Oak, has expressed disappointment over the NSA's decision to suspend football activities at the Accra Sports Stadium during December for concerts.

This move has necessitated clubs such as Hearts of Oak, Accra Lions, and Great Olympics to temporarily relocate from the Accra Sports Stadium. Togbe Afede voiced his dissatisfaction with the directive, questioning the rationale behind it.

He queried, "Somebody wakes up and suddenly closes up a sports stadium for a concert. What kind of reasoning is this? When you raise the money to maintain the stadium, is it for sports or more concerts? What is the logic here? But we sit down and not complain. Why are we afraid of the truth? Personally, it stinks and makes me ashamed that a stadium can be closed in favor of a concert while the Ghana Premier League is in action."

See how the Accra Sports Stadium pitch looks after last week's round of concert activities. The facility is managed by the @Gh_NSA pic.twitter.com/c2McZlyKMY

— DailyGraphic GraphicOnline (@Graphicgh) December 26, 2023

The closure has led to Hearts and Olympics playing their home games at the Baba Yara Stadium, while Accra Lions have settled on the WAFA Park in Sogakope.

Related article: VIDEO: Hearts Chairman Togbe Afede criticizes closure of Accra Stadium for concerts 

Read the full explanation by Prof Peter Twumasi below 

NSA: FACTS AND FIGURES

One needs to understand the workings of an organization to be able to assess properly its performance and significance.

The National Sports Authority (NSA) currently operating under the Sports Act, 2016 (Act 934) is mandated to develop, promote and manage all sporting disciplines in Ghana and to oversee the National Teams that participate in international games and competitions. NSA is thus the Sports Policy Implementing Agency of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. As part of the sports development and promotion, the NSA thus becomes Agency for establishment and management of all state-owned stadia across the country. 

It must, however, be understood that due to the multifunctionality of our stadia , occasionally some recreational and non-sporting events take place in these facilities. For instance, political parties such as NDC, NPP do hold their congresses in our stadia in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Cape Coast stadia. Our Independence Commemoration on 6th Match in recent years with its associated display of heavy duty military equipment are hosted in our stadium facilities. In fact, it is not the first time non-sporting events like concerts are held in our stadia.  Stakeholders are normally informed far in advance to make room for such activities.

It must be placed on record that NSA receives meager funds from the Ministry. In 2022, NSA received only GH¢287,000 for its goods and services across the country to manage all sporting disciplines and facilities. It must be noted that Sporting Clubs don't pay to use our stadia, but just pay 10% of gate proceeds to NSA per match day which in most times amounts to less than One Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢ 1,000).  It costs NSA almost GH¢10,000 to prepare one major stadium for a match. We pay about GH¢80,000 per month for ECG bills in Accra Sports Stadium alone. Same in Kumasi,  Cape Coast and Tamale stadia. Water, sanitation and security together cost NSA almost GH¢50,000 per month per each of the stadia. 

NSA, without the  innovative internal generation of funds (IGF) we embarked upon since our assumption of office in 2019, would have been declared bankrupt by now. We inherited about GH¢30 million legacy debt, but today we have slashed this to under GH¢5 million, and still paying for running costs. This is so because we have been able to increase our IGF by over 30 times (IGF used to be about GH¢100,000 per year before we took over). 

Daily usage charge for Accra Sports Stadium for events like football Premier League match is GH¢110,000. Same figure applies to Kumasi, Cape Coast and Tamale Sports Stadia per our 2021 Fees and Charges L.I. passed by Parliament. But these clubs say they are unable to pay, and thus use them almost free of charge.

Unfortunately, NSA gets less than 10% of the Ministry of Youth and Sports' annual budget, and even with this, NSA hardly gets all its releases for the year.

We need to understand the workings of National Sports Authority to be able to appreciate its contribution to the development and promotion of sports; and also to be able to engage in constructive discussions aimed at accelerating development and promotion of sports at both grassroot level and across the over 50 Sports Associations and Federations in Ghana.

Prof. Peter Twumasi
DG, National Sports Authority (NSA)