President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), Ben Nunoo-Mensah has bemoaned what he termed as negative branding.

Mr. Nunoo-Mensah stated that negative branding takes away sponsors from our sports.

He said we are lacking funds in promoting sports in Ghana, and yet what will make us get the funds, "we are not doing it”.

He said people are only interested in pushing agenda that will only court negative publicity for our sports.

He said when there is money in sports, the first beneficiaries would be the athletes, and the second beneficiaries would be the media, hence the media should not join those destroying the industry that feeds us.

"Why are not doing or saying good things about the industry that makes us who we are? Why are we intent on only agenda setting destroying individuals when we can use the platform to say good things or talk about the 95% good things about our sports to make it attractive. We are destroying our own industry. The era of negative branding of our sports must stop,” he added.

He was addressing the media at a press briefing today, Tuesday, April 13, 2021.

He cautioned the media to avoid people who would want to use them to destroy and defame others.

Mr. Nunoo-Mensah said he is not asking the media not to talk when people do the wrong things but the approach should destroy the industry.

According to him, Ghanaians don’t believe in lies but in record and achievements and the last elections of GOC showed that.

"That alone should tell us that the era where we think that to come into the spotlight for a position is to destroy people and the sports are gone. I am pleading with you. We need you. The young boys and girls doing sports in Ghana need you,” he added.

On his part, Vice President Mr. Paul Atsu who is also the President of the Volleyball Federation said developing sports in Ghana requires the role of the media.

He asserted that the media is the entry point for sports development in Ghana.

"We need you far more than you need us. There is no Federation operating in Ghana that does not need the media. So I want to urge you to continue supporting us,” he appealed.