Youth & Sports Minister designate Hon. Isaac Asiamah was yesterday vetted by the Appointments Committee of Parliament and he looks like somebody who knows what is on the ground and can perform better if the Youth & Sports sector is financed adequately.
He promised to be a Minister of all the 41 sports disciplines and called for the funding of sports with the initiation of a Sport Fund proposed in the manifesto of the New Patriotic Party.
He said under his term of office as sports minister, he would ensure that the is a local or domestic component of the Black Stars and in future, the new coach would be tasked to select about six local stars into the senior national football squad for international competition.
He said it is when locals stars are featured by the Black Stars those local stars would be created the needed excitement and they can influence attraction for the local league.
Hon. Asiamah revealed that he negotiated as representative of the President of Ghana in Gabon to make the Black Stars accept a 50% slash in their bonuses and promised to support all disciplines who have national involvement.
He promised to created employment and jobs for the youth through the private sector with key interest in leadership skills training.
The Minister of Youth and Sports nominee promised to use dialogue and not public banter to get his points across when he is given the opportunity to represent the ministry.
In the past there have been claims that previous minister Nii Lantey Vanderpuiye engaged the Ghana Football Association in a media cold war to the detriment of development of sports in the country.
But Asiamah during his vetting revealed he had a plan to indulge all stake holders to dialogue when ironing out issues.
‘I will not be using ‘bugabuga’ tactics. I will be ensuring that I will engage the Ghana Football Association,’
Asiamah said
‘We cannot afford to be going at each other publicly I think that Kwesi Nyantakyi has down a lot for Ghana Football.’
‘We qualified for the world Cup on three occasions under him and even though I admit there is a lot we can do to improve sports I think the best way to go is to dialogue.’
By Sammy Heywood Okine
