News:
March 1, 2011
Minister of Youth and Sports, Clement Kofi Humado has revealed his plans to revolutionize sports in the country.
Humado made a special appearance on Asempa FM’s Sports Morning Show Tuesday and told host, Moses Antwi Benefo, he plans an enduring legacy in the sector with a specific focus on developing the lesser known sports.
Asked how he plans on carrying out his goal, the minister said “I think that all District Assemblies should come up with three sporting events for which they have comparative advantage. For example, in my area Anlo, we have a lot of water so why don’t we adopt, say, swimming? We have very sandy beaches, why don’t we play volley? So that is the kind of thinking I am working on.”
He explained that he has a proposal for each district to select activities beneficial to the community. He said the communities’ assets could be harnessed and used to develop many of such lesser known sports, adding “we will sustain football, we will sustain other important sporting activities like boxing and all that, but we think that we should also start developing the lesser known sports and that is the legacy I think I should leave.”
Mr. Humado who spoke on a wide range of issues said he intends to work harmoniously with agencies and departments under the ministry to ensure that sports receive the needed support and growth.
Touching on the tussle between two groups of the Ghana Olympic Committee which has led to Ghana being suspended by the International Olympic Committee, Mr. Humado indicated that he will ensure that the impasse is brought to an end.
The IOC suspended Ghana last December citing as reasons the country’s sports laws contravened internationally accepted ones and that the government had needlessly mingled in sports administration.
But Mr Humado said the delay in amending the Sports Law was as a result of certain problems that the ministry encountered.
“There were certain genuine problems, that was why we could not get it passed at the end of December, so I have looked at those genuine problems and I have met with the committee and we intend to quickly work on that,” he stated.
He explained further that the Sports law, SMCD 54, promulgated in 1976 is being amended as a result of the various changes that have occurred in the sporting arena. He said the law became out of tune with international norms and therefore it was necessary to bring it up-to-date with international norms and practices and to also help to solve specific problems in the sector within the country.
Mr. Humado however assured that he was certain the bill would be passed by the end of the year. He said cabinet referred the bill back to the ministry and they were taking a second look at it to ensure that the necessary questions raised were answered.
He said since he assumed office he had examined the roadmap in solving the rancour between the B.T. Baba faction and Professor Dodoo’s. According to him, the roadmap resulted in the decision to amend the law together with the Legislative Instrument (LI).
“We are looking at the two. We are looking at both the LI and we are also looking at the law, so I think we are on course. We have not deviated as far as I am concerned,” he assured.
He added that the two parties would meet after his outfit deals with the underlying cause of the problem, but pointed out that they were at liberty to come to the ministry to meet him at their own time to discuss the issue further.
“The way I have looked at the problem, it is a technical problem and so we need to carefully look at the technicalities of the situation and then decide how to proceed. Just by merely bringing the two people together, I don’t believe would really solve the problem… We need to work the technicalities out, because if you read the correspondence you will realize that it’s a question of the procedures that are being used. We have the law, we have the LI and then we have the elections –democratic elections- which are supposed to take place, so I think that we should fix that one first and then we can bring the two parties together.”
On whether he will last in the office dogged with all kinds of scandals and rumours, Mr, Humado had a simple answer: ‘I believe I am going to be there for the rest of the term of Prof. Evans Atta Mills.”
Source: myjoyonline.com