Management of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) has explained why it decided to end the sponsorship of Medeama Sporting Club (Medeama SC), a Tarkwa-based Premier League Club in the Western Region.
According to the management, the Foundation realised that it was being overstretched in the area of finance with the sponsorship of the club, given that it had other equal priorities to channel investments.
The Foundation mentioned the refurbishment and upgrade of the Apinto Government Hospital, where it was channeling investment towards the critical area. The project included the construction of an Accident and Emergency Center equipped with modern diagnostic and imaging equipment such as a CT scans.
Addressing a press conference in Tarkwa, the First Executive Secretary of GFGF, Abdel Razak Yakubu, said that since 2012, the Medeama Sporting Club had benefitted from a total sponsorship package of approximately US$1,432,585 million from the Foundation.
That aside, between 2017 and 2020, the Foundation expended US$421,000 to rehabilitate the Abontiakor Park to be used exclusively by the Club as its home grounds, when the reconstruction of the T&A Park commenced.
Executive Secretary Abdel Yakubu told the press conference that in 2022, the Foundation, however, informed Medeama of ending its sponsorship following a package worth US$150,000 for the 2021/2022 Ghana Premier League Cup competitions.
“Gold Fields believes the support given to the club has gone a long way to propelling Medeama SC to where it is today. Gold Fields and its Foundation are proud to have been part of the Medeama success story, and we wish the team all the best.”
Currently, Gold Fields, Abdel Yakubu disclosed, was providing advertising package worth US$100,000.00 to the club for the African Championship League. The package covers various areas, including jersey and bus branding for a period of one year. The Foundation and Medeama, he told the conference, had agreed on GFGF logo on the sleeve of players’ jerseys, GFGF logo embossed on Medeama Sporting Club team bus, and branded pitch panels at the stadium amongst others.
Turning attention to the reconstruction of the US$16 million Tarkwa and Abosso (T&A) stadium, the Executive Secretary told the media that the project had been projected to be completed in the first quarter of next year. This was, because, there were several things to be done before the facility could be handed over to the Municipal Assembly and the National Sports Authority (NSA).
For instance, he mentioned work outstanding to include the playing pitch, external work, installation of flood lights, and completion of external cladding amongst many others.
He also mentioned the full inspection for defects to be rectified, project sign-off by the supervising engineering consultants and regulatory agencies, testing of emergencies equipment and emergency preparedness strategies amongst others as processes “we need to go through before the stadium is handed over.”
The work that is to be done before the stadium is eventually handed over parries newspaper reports that the mining company was deliberately delaying the handing over of the stadium to Medeama.
The Foundation made it clear at the press conference that, the stadium was not constructed for Medeama. According to the Executive Secretary, the stadium, when fully handed over, would become a public facility managed by the Assembly and NSA.
Robert Siaw, Regional Manager for Community Affairs, also debunk allegation that the mining company was deliberately delaying the completion of the stadium with the intent to sabotage the club.
According to him, the allegations were untrue, and given that the mine had sponsored the club since 2012 to date, he questioned what the mine would gain by sabotaging a club it had sponsored for years.
Roger Adama, Project Manager for the Stadium, conceded and explained that, though the mine had scheduled last quarter of this year for the completion of the stadium that could not come off given the work to be done.
He expressed the hope that the next projected quarter (first quarter of 2024), everything would have been done for the completion and handing over of the facility. Present at the media encounter was Emma Morrison, Regional Manager for Public Affairs.
The journalists, mainly sports writers, were taken round the reconstructed stadium by the Project Manager.
