Government has allocated a total GH¢46,910,275 to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for the year ending December 31, 2017.
The allocation for the Sports Ministry thus gets a significant 107.94% hike from last year in the budget for 2017, presented by Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta in Parliament Thursday.
The erstwhile government under President John Mahama allocated GH¢22,560,058 to the Sports Ministry in 2016, an amount which was generally described low for the sector.
Reading the abridged version of the 2017 Budget Statement before the House, the Finance Minister said: “In the area of sports development feasibility studies will be completed to facilitate the expansion of the infrastructure stock and transform the National Sports College into a Centre of Excellence, through Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements. Additional efforts will be made to support other disciplines starting from our school.”
Further details in the entire maiden Budget Statement and Economic policy of the Akufo-Addo government indicates that “the Ministry intends to set-up a Youth Development Authority to harmonize and coordinate all government sponsored Youth initiatives across the country.”
It added that “the Ministry will facilitate the participation in the African U-20 (which the Black Satellites failed to qualify) and U-17 Youth Championships in Zambia and Gabon respectively. The African qualification tournaments for the Black Queens, Princesses, Maidens and the Stars will be pursued for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.”
“In 2017, the sector will pursue the completion of the University of Ghana Sports Complex,” parts of the statement on the outlook for the year by the Ministry of Youth and Sports reads.
Source:Starrsportsgh.com
