‘We need a national plan for sports development'

The Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, has advocated a national plan for sports development in the country.

According to the articulate chief, Ghana can avoid several casualties in sports administration if there is a plan to guide the nation from repeating errors of the past.

“We can’t do things haphazardly and all efforts will be meaningless without a proper plan,” he stressed.

Speaking on the theme “The Search for Sustainable Funding for Sports: The Role of the Private Sector”, at the 40th edition of the MTN Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG) Awards held at the Banquet Hall of the State House on Saturday, Nana Nketsia stated that sport was one emerging industry which had not received the needed attention as a result of the perceptions and misconceptions that people held against it. 

“Something must change to make sports attractive in this country,” he added.

He therefore charged the SWAG executive and members to lead the path for a stakeholders forum to deliberate on the way forward for Ghana sports.

The ceremony was aimed at celebrating hardworking sportsmen and sportswomen, as well as personalities and corporate bodies that had contributed to sports development in the country.

The night of glamour and glitz was attended by high-profile personalities, including Dr Mustapha Ahmed, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Ambassador Ray Quarcoo, Lawyer Nii Amarkai Amarteifio, a Patron of SWAG, Mr Ebenezer Asante, the very first Ghanaian CEO of MTN, and Mr Solomon Lartey, the acting Deputy Director of Activa Insurance.

Chief Segun Odegbami, the Nigerian football icon, popularly known as ‘Mathematical’ for his precision, also graced the occasion.