Ghana Sports is fast asleep

: Former Board Chairman of NSABy Erasmus Kwaw

A former Board Chairman of the National Sports Authority, Dr. Henry Puffa has insisted that Ghana Sports is fast asleep despite the qualification of the Black Stars for the 2014 Fifa World Cup.

Funding has been a huge challenge for lesser-appreciated sports particularly in 2013 but football (Black Stars) on the other hand has received almost all its budgetary allocation.

The peculiar situation has left a sour taste in the mouth and in several cases led to the cancellation of both local and foreign events including the much heralded, ‘National Unity Games.’

“Ghana Sports is fast asleep,’’ Dr. Puffa told www.liquidsportsghana.com in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of a Ghana Olympic Committee organised Sports Administrators course.

The University of Education, Winneba lecturer added that, ‘’we should not be deceived by the 6:1 trashing (of the Egyptian national team by the Black Stars) that everything is on course.

Despite some interventions by the Ministry of Youth and Sports-leading to the successful staging of the international boxing bout involving former IBF Bantamweight champion Joseph Agbeko as well as securing private sponsorship to pay for the affiliation fees of Ghana Tennis Association- Dr. Puffa believes it is not enough.

“This course has exposed loopholes in National Sports Administration. Government financial involvement and support has been minimal.”

Dr. Puffa also expressed concern about the ‘’inactivity’’ of the Board of the National Sports Authority saying, “The ambiguity of the position of the Board of Directors of the National Sports Authority is unclear.”

“It’s not clear whether the previous board is there or not. Government must come out clear as far as the situation of the Board is concerned and for democratic governance, an instrument must be used to appoint a substantive Board and an Acting Director General.

“But if the Board does not exist, then it should be the priority of government to appoint one, which will in turn appoint the Director General of the NSA,” National Course Coordinator of the Sports administrators’ seminar concluded.

Meanwhile, it is still not clear whether the current Board of the NSA is still in place after the Board Chairman, Kojo Bonsu, was appointed as the Chief Executive of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly earlier in the year. But a new board is yet to be put in place.