Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, the Vice President and NPP Flagbearer, has said his government would drastically change its sports funding strategy in order to meet the requirements for contemporary sports growth.
Presenting his vision to the people of Ghana on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, Dr. Bawumia stated that sports in Ghana is yet to reach its full potential due to the absence of proper and long-term funding support.
“Sports is a multi-million dollar industry and an enabler for the youth,” stated Dr. Bawumia.
” However, we have not realized our full sports potential, and we cannot maximize the full potential of Ghana sports, with the same funding module we have operated with since independence.”
Dr. Bawumia stated that he “will have a major focus on policies, tax and other incentives to increase private and public investment” as part of his new sports development strategy as President in order to solve it and ensure the success of Ghana Sports.
“My government will therefore, prioritise the creation of incentives for corporate sponsorship as a sustainable module of financing sports development and promotion for our national teams, including football, athletics and boxing at all levels.”
“This will take the financial pressure off government, and also enable government to redirect more support to other sports disciplines.”
The government will allocate more funds to grassroots development by creating the School Sports Secretariat, an agency under the Ministry of Sports, to promote grassroots sports through schools in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and sports federations, according to Dr. Bawumia, who also mentioned that a new funding module will support the various federations’ activities.