Forward of the December polls, political events are sharing concepts and insurance policies, they’re making marketing campaign guarantees right here and there. Over the weekend, the Vice President and NPP’s Presidential candidate, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia launched the get together’s manifesto in Takoradi giving a litany of guarantees – some for Ghana sports activities.
Subsequent week, former President and the NDC’s presidential candidate, John Mahama will even outside his get together’s manifesto. We await the NDC’s manifesto. The NPP vows to an operation Olympics glory for Ghana to win medals at Los Angeles 2028 and past, construct extra astro turfs, improve infrastructure, help Ghana Premier League golf equipment with buses and construct six stadiums within the six new areas.
They are saying they might undertake a upkeep module to raised handle and preserve sports activities infrastructure, create a Ghana Colleges Sports activities Secretariat, set up a sports activities improvement fund, incentivise company establishments by way of tax rebates to help and spend money on sports activities, and many others. A few of these guarantees are crucial. They seem practical too.
Just like the measures for sustainable funding, operation Olympic glory, Ghana Colleges Sports activities Secretariat, improve of infrastructure, upkeep, and many others. Nonetheless, others are superfluous and unrealistic – like the supply of buses to golf equipment and the development of six new stadiums. Ghana sports activities want practical manifesto guarantees.
First, there’s a patent problem with correctly sustaining the already present sports activities infrastructure. Some Nationwide Youth Centres that had been constructed lie in ruins; others are uncompleted. For instance, the one at Ho, which hosted the 2023 Independence Day celebration is in a state of disrepair (see Graphic Sports activities, August 19-25, 2024).
“Colonies of snakes, armies of frogs, packs of rats and battalions of untamed rabbits have claimed the power, which is now extra of a wildlife sanctuary than a hub for [sports]. It’s crumbling, and the grounds have turn out to be overrun with weeds, remodeling the positioning into an overgrown wasteland” says the Graphic Sports activities publication.
“The one ‘sporting actions’ now are the battles between wild rabbits and the canine belonging to the safety personnel. The soccer discipline is overrun with serpents rising from the unchecked development of weeds”. It’s the similar for many of the centres nationwide.
It’s miserable. The political events of their sports activities manifestos should acknowledge these embarrassing issues and instantly proffer options. Their manifestos needn’t be lofty when there are basic difficulties with sports activities improvement which aren’t being handled. Allow them to marketing campaign for his or her votes however let their messages tackle realities on the bottom. That issues most.
For sports activities, if the general public can’t be proven in convincing phrases how snakes and rodents could be chased out of the rotting nationwide youth centres, it’s troublesome to just accept that six new stadiums could be constructed and extra particularly when the ten that had been earlier promised haven’t been performed, and even these accomplished are decaying.