Ministry of Youth and Sports is the state / governmental machinery that has the mandate of developivng the Youth,the promotion of Sports and the provision of infrastructure, sporting infrastructure.
The Ministry has three agencies under its remit. These are:National Youth Authority, established under Act939,2016 with the objectives of developing the creative potential of the youth and developing a dynamic and disciplined youth imbued with spirit of nationalism, patriotism and a sense of propriety and civic responsibility as well as to ensure the effective participation of the youth in the development of the country.
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The National Sports Authority, the other agency under MOYS has the mandate of overseeing the various sporting federations in the country.
The Authority also has the responsibility of owning, managing and maintaining our various state owned stadia across the country.
The Winneba Sports College is seen as the academic wing or agency of the Ministry that teaches and trains individuals and organisations that are involved in sports administration.
It undertakes various capacity building programs or activities for coaches, sports managers or administrators and all who are into sports business.
The minister in charge of this well scrutinised Ministry is Isaac Kwame Asiamah, who also doubles as MP for Atwima Mponua in the Ashanti Region must be commended for his leadership style and skill for the manner he has been manning the Ministry.
After his nomination by the President and subsequent approval by Parliament, he observed that the bane affecting the performances of our athletes especially the home based ones is the absence of of infrastructure across the nook and cranny of the country.
Since he is the Minister in charge of youth affairs and knowing that majority of our athletes and footballers fall within that bracket, he conceived an idea of constructing ten multi purpose resource centres of excellence in the then ten regions of the country.
Before then, he had renovated the Accra Sports Stadium which had been neglected for the past ten years. The stadium later hosted the Women’s African Championships as one of the two venues in 2018.
The essence of the construction of these multi purpose centres of excellence is to serve as centres of promoting all sporting activities and also as learning centres for information communication and technology knowledge acquisition.
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It is interesting to note that, the Hon Minister doesn’t sit in the comfort of his office only waiting for the inauguration, but he gallivantes on regular basis with his technical staff who have the technical eyes to inspect the on going projects.
During visits, he raises issues when there is the need and praises to encourage the hardworking Contractors. He emphasises on value for money and will not compromise on that.
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As I write this piece, most of the centres have attained 60 to 70 percent completion.
The interesting thing about the construction of these centres is that only four regional capitals are benefiting namely Wa, Koforidua, Accra and Ho. That is Upper West, Eastern,Greater Accra and Volta. The rest are in the rural communities or areas. These are Axim, Yendi,Navirongo,Dunkwa on Offin,Dorma Ahenkro and Nyinahin.This is to ensure that every hamlet in Ghana also benefits from these massive edifices.
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These centres are modelled on Olympic sized style, therefore they can host some international tournaments.
Ghanaian youth must be developed, their talents unearthed, opportunities given and infrastructure provided for their total growth.
Ministry of Youth and Sports and their chief head,the Hon Minister should be commended for this vision.
Hon Asiamah is really changing the phase of youth development and infrastructure provision.
Clearly, there is hope for your lads and their chosen careers under the leadership of dynamic and result _oriented Minister.
BY: Ahmed Osumanu Halid
