Developing sports with manifestoes

 Ghana must at least be at the apex of football, globally in the next decade or so, if manifestoes of the two major political parties in Ghana are anything to go by.

The elections are a little over four months away and expectedly, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) are making a lot of promises to solve problems in the sports sector that have existed for ages.

Clearly, some of these problems have just been ignored even when the two parties were in power and in good positions to address them.

The fact that solutions are now being proffered from left, right to centre suggests how important the quest to wield power is to a politician.

DrMahamuduBawumia, Vice President and flagbearer of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), kick-started the football played in manifestoes with the announcement to establish a Sports Development Fund to develop young talents when elected to office on December 7.

At the party’smanifesto launch at the Ghana Secondary Technical School in Takoradi, he explained how the fund would develop sports infrastructure, talents, and grassroots sports programmes, including the revival of colts football and leagues across the country.

A government under DrBawumia is also expectedto upgrade the surfaces of the football pitches in Kumasi, Accra, Cape Coast, Legon, Tamale and Essipun to meet international standards.

The NPP will also build six 5,000-seater capacity stadiums for the new regions and provide busesfor Premier League Clubs.

DrBawumia would also supervise the establishment of a Ghana School Sports Secretariat to create more opportunities for young people in sports and collaborate with international sports bodies like the NBA and NFL to make Ghana a hub for emerging sports in Africa.

He would also start an “Operation Olympics Glory” programme by dedicating resources towards the preparation and readiness of athletes towards the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA.

Few days later, NDC responded in an acrobatic style as its candidate, John DramaniMahama, pledged to undertake emergency refurbishment of pitches at the various national stadiums if it wins power in the December 7 elections.

“We’ll pursue our long-standing policy of establishing international standard stadia in all regions, build more multi-purpose sports facilities to promote regional sporting events and inter-school competition as part of our talent development policy.”

The manifesto also revealed the party’s intentions to augment the salaries of all registered footballers with additional allowances.

“We would ensure equitable investments in other national teams, such as women’s football teams, parasports teams, juvenile teams, and lesser-known sports.

“We would upgrade the UEW Sports College into a modern sports university training programmes in sports, related medicine, science, and sports management/administration at campuses around Ghana.”

These pledges may come as greatand mouthwatering news for the ‘football people’because they are geared more towards football.

It, however, leaves question marks over what would be done to bridge the huge gap between football and other sports.

Bostwana has become a model sports nation for Africa in recent times following the exploits of Lestile Tebogo at the just ended Olympic Games held in Paris.

The young athlete silenced the American and Jamaican sprinters at the showpiece, a feat he repeated at the 2024 Diamond League.

A tiny Island like St. Lucia had an athlete on the podium following an excellent performance from Julian Alfred in the female sprints.

These were gains from proper investments in sports over the years and not just football.

Upgrading our pitches, making available more playing centres, improving the league and the many others outlined by the NPP and NDC are laudable, but Ghana would be worse off if the over concentration on football does not change.

 By Andrew Nortey