Appoint Sports Minister with good understanding of sector’s value – GTTF President Afadzinu

Mawuko Afadzinu

The President of the Ghana Table Tennis Federation (GTTF), Mr Mawuko Afadzinu, has called on President John Dramani Mahama to appoint a Sports Minister with a better understanding and appreciation of the value sports.

President Mahama, who took office on Wednesday, January 7, is yet to name a Minister for the sector, but Mr Afadzinu says getting the right person to effectively manage the sector should be high on government agenda.

Speaking to the Times Sports, he noted that sports has a positive effect on the mood and spirit of

the nation, and also has a way of galvanising the youth, steering them in the right direction, and getting communities to gel.

“It has a way of pushing people to believe and to inspire, and for that to happen, a lot needs to happen under the new Sports Minister who must be well conditioned for the resetting agenda,” Mr Afadzinu stated.

“The sector needs someone who will be able to build a lot of capacity for the different sports federations as well as being able to establish performance metrics for the federations and sporting disciplines and for sports as a whole at all levels.” He said the new Sports Minister must be someone who takes a holistic view of the sector and looks at it all the way from the grassroots to the national and professional levels, ensuring the right balance between professional high-performance sports and recreational sports.

Mr Afadzinu, who was recently elected as the Executive Vice President (Marketing) of the African Table Tennis Federation (ATTF), stated that the appointing authority needs to adopt a holistic approach, and take a look at the pool of persons available and pick the best person.

“For me, whether the person has prior experience or not does not really matter; rather, what is important is the key decisions: Can the person lead us to lift sports in Ghana?

BY RAYMOND ACKUMEY