GRi Sports 01 - 07 - 2002
Accra (Greater Accra) 01 July 2002 - Mr Aneas Soko Chigwedere, Zimbabwe's Minister of Education, Sports and Culture and head of a five-man delegation on a familiarisation visit to the country, on Friday called on Mr Edward Osei-Kwaku, Youth and Sports Minister to acquaint himself with sports administration in Ghana.
Zimbabwe has never qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations since its inception 23 years ago and had tried in vein to unravel the mystery surrounding their sad story.
Although the visit was to help the delegation acquaint themselves with how the three ministries- Sports, Education and Culture- are run, their main thrust was to find out the secret of Ghana's success story in sports, especially soccer, for being four-time African Champions.
Giving an insight into some of the difficulties Zimbabwe was facing, Mr Chigwedere said there seems to be a break during periods of talent hunt and when they are harnessed. He said although there is not much difficulty in identification of talents at the schools level, there is no system in place to harness "these young talents to become very beneficial to the country."
The Zimbabwean Minister wanted to know the role of government in sports development and promotion and how officials at the Ghana Football Association were chosen.
Mr Edward Osei-Kwaku in response gave credit to the ideology and vision of the country's first president Dr Kwame Nkrumah, as well as the pivotal role played by some sports administrators like Ohene Gyan, H.P. Nyametei, Tommy Thompson and S.K. Manu. He said government plays a very key role in the promotion of sports in the country and also is the main financier of all the national teams.
Mr Osei Kwaku stated that although the GFA and the National Sports Council are under the ministry, they work together as a team and are assisted by regional sports development officers.
He said for example, "the GFA is supporting the government with 2,000 dollars a month towards the new Black Stars' coach Milan Zivadinovic's 10,000 dollars monthly salary." In addition, he said, the GFA contributed 5,000 dollars towards the 10,000 signing on fee of the coach.
However, Mr Osei Kwaku admitted that Ghana has its own peculiar problems, chiefly among them is the lack of commitment by the foreign-based players, which has caused the country's World Cup dream.
The Zimbabwean minister was so much enthused about Ghana government's commitment towards sports, especially football. He said in Zimbabwe that is left in the hand of the Football Association.
Mr Chigwedere said he was going to liase with the ministry to either send down experts to assist Zimbabwe in sports administration or officials from that country would be sent on attachment to understudy their Ghanaian counterparts. Present were Messrs Joe Aggrey, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports and Mr Ben Koufie, GFA Chairman.
GRi…/
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