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Let’s support the 2023 Ghana African Games
It is less than two years left for Ghana to welcome more than 5,000 athletes from over 50 countries to the African Games. It would be Ghana’s first Games, 56 years since it roared off in Congo Brazzaville.
The nation’s pace of preparations has come under a barrage of criticisms, with many wondering whether the desired facilities including an ultra-modern Olympic-size stadium would be ready for the Games in 2023.
Number without count, Dr Kwaku Ofosu Asare, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the 2023 African Games, has indicated strappingly the nation’s readiness to oblige the continent to the 13th quadrennial festival.
Without any shred of doubt, there is a huge workload on the shoulders of the Organising Committee and its stakeholders to make the Games an engaging reality.
With the nation’s sporting infrastructure nothing to write home about as compared to our North African neighbours, it is important that we support the LOC to achieve its target.
Indeed, with the Government determined to claw back the halcyon days of Ghanaian sports, in athletics, boxing, football and table tennis, the provision of the requisite infrastructure, to this end, is critical if our nation is to recapture its pride of place in sports on the continent and in the world.
True, hosting the Games will afford Ghana the opportunity to address capacity deficiencies, by providing the relevant human resource capacity to run and manage sports in Ghana. The state-of-the-art sporting facilities, importantly, will support the development of sports as the Games serve as a pathway to reorganise less-financed sports in the country.
Apart from football, boxing and athletics, which are noted as big sporting disciplines in Ghana, over 25 other sporting disciplines are classified as ‘lesser-known’ or less-financed sports because of the lack of financial support and interest from government and the public – and the Games would be a perfect opportunity to realise the potential of these sports to make them burly disciplines.
For instance, the Games will produce a 1,000-seater multi-purpose sports hall for badminton, boxing, volleyball, and weightlifting, and five tennis courts complex including 1,000 centre courts. This should be a great heritage and huge elevation for the often disregarded disciplines in Ghana.
Obviously, that is not to say we should not whip the Committee into line when they go off beam or fail to live up to expectation. Members on the Committee are worth their salt and have to prove that mettle by wearing the skin off their hands to produce one of the finest Games ever in the annals of the multi-sports Pan African festival.
Member of the Committee, Ms Eva Okyere, may have put it more appropriate when she urged the media to treat the Ghana 2023 Games as a national project without any political colouration, “even as you go about your professional duties of keeping the LOC on its toes.” Great call!
We cannot wait for Ghana 2023. Let us prop up the effort, and make it a grand success story.
By John Vigah
The Diaspora Affairs Office at the Office of the President has hosted a delegation of African diaspora women who are in Ghana ahead of a planned Presidential Conferment of Citizenship ceremony.
The Director of Diaspora Affairs, Kofi Okyere Darko, explained in a Facebook post that the visit was a gesture of appreciation by the delegation to the Government of Ghana for its continued efforts to reconnect Africans in the diaspora with their ancestral homeland.
He indicated that the ceremony, scheduled for next Monday, will officially grant Ghanaian citizenship to members of the delegation as part of the country’s broader engagement with the African diaspora.
The delegation was led by Erica Bennett, Founder of the Diaspora Africa Forum.
According to Mr Okyere Darko, her years of advocacy have played an important role in strengthening ties between Africa and people of African descent living abroad.
He noted that the group’s journey towards citizenship represents not only a legal process but also a cultural and spiritual return to their roots.
Also present at the meeting was Natalie Jackson, an attorney who is also expected to receive Ghanaian citizenship during the ceremony. She works closely with renowned civil rights lawyer Ben Crump.
Mr Okyere Darko emphasised that Ghana remains committed to strengthening relationships with the African diaspora and promoting unity, identity, and shared heritage among people of African descent worldwide.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Ghana Tourism Authority is leading Ghana’s participation at ITB Berlin, which opened in Berlin with a vibrant national pavilion highlighting Ghana’s rich cultural heritage, tourism destinations and investment opportunities.
March 5 has been designated as Ghana Day, a special platform to promote Ghana’s languages, cuisine, Kente, festivals and business prospects to the global tourism community. The stand has already drawn strong interest with traditional arts and crafts displays, immersive multimedia presentations and popular Ghanaian snacks.
Seven private-sector players are exhibiting alongside government officials as part of efforts to deepen trade partnerships, expand market access, and attract investment across the hospitality, heritage tourism, ecotourism, and creative arts sectors.
Ahead of the official opening, the Ghana delegation also engaged young Ghanaian investors in Germany in collaboration with V Afrika-Verein and the Ghana Embassy, strengthening diaspora investment linkages and highlighting opportunities within the tourism value chain.
Ghana’s coordinated presence at ITB Berlin 2026 reinforces its strategy to position the country as the Gateway to Africa and a competitive destination for leisure travel and global investment.
