The Minister for Youth and Sports, Hon. Mustapha Ussif has indicated that Ghana has been in dire need of policy direction for the development of sports in the country.
He made these remarks at the opening ceremony of the consultative workshop organised at the Mensvic Grand Hotel in Accra on Wednesday 8th February, 2023 by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to solicit for inputs from stakeholders.
He revealed that the absence of a sports policy or programme to inform sports development and sports for business was a dent in our sports journey, considering the international reputation our athletes have built for the nation in various sporting disciplines.
The Minister added that his ministry has been working very hard to correct some of our national sports infrastructure deficiencies to facilitate participation in sports and physical activities.
According to the Minister, Ghana is blessed with abundant human capital as far as Sports is concerned adding that it was very imperative to put the policy together to guide and enhance skills and talents across the country.
He expressed his confidence that the draft document will be enriched considering the calibre of the stakeholders who he believed will add their ideas to make it comprehensive.
On his part, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Alhaji Hafiz Adam noted that the development of the National Sports Policy had long been on the drawing board dating back to the colonial era.
According to him, Sports and physical activities by their impact contributes to the overall development of the society and it’s an integral part of socio- economic development of our nation.
The policy seeks to enhance governance and leadership of sports federations, develop skills of sports technical experts, enhance talent detection and development of sports infrastructure, building strategic alliance with stakeholders at the regional and continental level and overall increase participation of private sector investment and improving Coordination.
He further noted that the commitment and passion expressed by the participants to the development of sports in our country cannot be overemphasised.
