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One needs to understand the workings of an organization to be able to assess properly its performance and significance.
The National Sports Authority (NSA) currently operating under the Sports Act, 2016 (Act 934) is mandated to develop, promote and manage all sporting disciplines in Ghana and to oversee the National Teams that participate in international games and competitions. NSA is thus the Sports Policy Implementing Agency of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. As part of the sports development and promotion, the NSA thus becomes Agency for establishment and management of all state-owned stadia across the country.
It must, however, be understood that due to the multifunctionality of our stadia , occasionally some non-sporting events take place in these facilities. For instance, political parties such as NDC, NPP do hold their congresses in our stadia in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale abd Cape Coast stadia. Our Independence Commemoration on 6th Match in recent years with its associated display of heavy duty military equipment are hosted in our stadium facilities. In fact, it is not the first time non-sporting events like concerts are held in our stadia. Stakeholders are normally informed far in advance to make room for such activities.
It must be placed on record that NSA receives meager funds from the Ministry. In 2022, NSA received only GHS 287,000 for its goods and services across the country to manage all sporting disciplines and facilities. It must be noted that Sporting Clubs don’t pay to use our stadia, but just pay 10% of gate proceeds to NSA per match day which in most times amounts to less than One Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHS 1,000). It costs NSA almost GHS 10,000 to prepare one major stadium for a match. We pay about GHS 80,000 per month for ECG bills in Accra Sports Stadium alone. Same in Kumasi, Cape Coast and Tamale stadia. Water, sanitation and security together cost NSA almost GHS 50,000 per month per each of the stadia.
NSA, without the innovative internal generation of funds (IGF) we embarked upon since our assumption of office in 2019, would have been declared bankrupt by now. We inherited about GHS 30 million legacy debt, but today we have slashed this to under GHS 5 million, and still paying for running costs. This is so because we have been able to increase our IGF by over 30 times (IGF used to be about GHS 100,000 per year before we took over).
Daily usage charge for Accra Sports Stadium for events like football Premier League match is GHS 110,000. Same figure applies to Kumasi, Cape Coast and Tamale Sports Stadia per our 2021 Fees and Charges L.I. passed by Parliament. But these clubs say they are unable to pay, and thus use them almost free of charge.
Unfortunately, NSA gets less than 10% of the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ annual budget, and even with this, NSA hardly gets all its releases for the year.
We need to understand the workings of National Sports Authority to be able to appreciate its contribution to the development and promotion of sports; and also to be able to engage in constructive discussions aimed at accelerating development and promotion of sports at both grassroot level and across the over 50 Sports Associations and Federations in Ghana.
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Prof. Peter Twumasi
DG, National Sports Authority (NS
