The Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has told the Public Accounts Committee that he did not authorize the decision to close down the Accra Sports Stadium in December for non-sporting activities.
The National Sports Authority ordered the closure of the stadium for social events during the festivities while the Ghana Premier League was still active.
Hearts of Oak, Accra Lions and Great Olympics were asked to move their home games away from the stadium due to its unavailability.
Taking his turn before the committee, the Minister denied playing a role in the decision.
“The main purpose of our sporting facilities is for us to use those facilities to develop talent and also for competitions whether national or international,” he said.
“No, I did not [authorize the closure of the sports stadium in December]. I am aware [the stadia was closed] and I did call him [Peter Twumasi] to ask. My major concern was the pitch.
“Even though the NSA by law is the authority having the powers to manage all the sporting facilities for us and to ensure they are in good shape, once we have a major tournament coming; the Africa Games and we have also the Premiership ongoing, my major concern is how much we are getting from these social events that we are giving out these facilities to.”
“It’s something that I have engaged the Director General on that going forward this should not be done because at the end of the day whatever you get from these social events might not be able to maintain the pitch,” he added.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
