Sixty-six employees of the National Sports Authority (NSA) have petitioned the President, Nana Akufo-Addo to call the Governing Board of the NSA to order and ensure the smooth operation of the sports agency.
The signatories, headed by Messrs Alexander Tieku and Eric Appiah Jnr., Deputy Chief Administration Officer and Principal Sports Development officer respectively of the NSA, in a petition called for a probe of the actions of the Board, considered to be inimical to the running of the agency mandated to develop, organise and promote sports in Ghana.
The petition, dated November 7, 2022 has also been copied for the attention of the Vice President, the Chief of Staff, Minister of Youth and Sports, the CEO of State Interest and Governance Authority (SIGA), the NSA Board Chairman and Director-General, as well as the chairman of the NSA Union.
The petitioners stated that the Director-General is ready to transform the authority but the non-cooperative stance of the new Board and the Ministry of Sports is hampering the day-to-day running of the Sports Authority.
The aggrieved staff of the Sports Authority cited alleged interference from the Board in the work of NSA Director General, Prof. Peter Twumasi and his management team.
They bemoaned what they called the “unabated interference” of the work of the D-G by the Board, with the intent to derail the progress of the National Sports Authority, hence the petition to stop the conscious attempt to undermine the administration of the Director-General.
The petition revealed that the NSA is yet to receive any amount of money from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, from the GHc1.4 million realised when Ghana played Nigeria in March 2022, in the World Cup playoff.
The petition emphasised that the Sports Ministry kept all the proceeds generated during the Ghana-Nigeria match at Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi with nothing going to the NSA that organised the match.
The petitioners say the money is needed to offset debt incurred in the organisation of the said match.
“The NSA is the Agency created by law and under the Ministry of Youth and Sports mandated to implement sports policy and programs yet, despite this huge responsibility the Authority is confronted with financial challenges”, the petitioners disclosed.
According to the aggrieved staff, the National Sports Authority receives about eight per cent (8%) of its approved budgets from the Ministry of Youth and Sports but key revenues generated during national matches are not released by the Ministry to NSA for its work, a situation they described as very disturbing.
They alleged that the Board is involved in petitions to the Office of Special Prosecutor and EOCO to remove Professor Twumasi as Director General of NSA.
“It has come to our notice that some members of the Board are behind some disgruntled workers allegations against the Director-General and thus emboldened the workers to report the hardworking Director General to the Ghana Police service, EOCO, CHRAJ, Office of Special Prosecutor and subjecting Prof Twumasi to unhealthy and media propaganda.
“The Board Chairman is known to have written to the Office of Special Prosecutor to investigate the Director General. These allegations which are with no substance are only made to court public hatred for the Director General, which eventually would bring the name of the organization into disrepute,”the petition said.
The allegations come in the face of some transformational achievements to the credit of Prof. Peter Twumasi over the past four years since his appointment.
Some of the achievements were mentioned as the renovation of Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast and Tamale Sports stadia and construction of over 100 AstroTurf facilities.Whilst the Esipong and Sekondi Sports stadia are being renovated with multipurpose stadia at Wa, Navrongo, Yendi, Dormans Ahenkro, Nyinahin, Koforidua, Dunkwa-on-Offin, Ho, Aximand Kaneshie, being at various stages of completion, among other administrative interventions culminating in the increase in Internally Generated Funds and recruitment of record 250 personnel at the Technical department of the NSA offices across the 16 regions to strengthen NSA’s operations.
Believing that the said allegations are hollow, the staff of the NSA want the President to, as a matter of urgency, investigate the actions of the Board and prescribe appropriate remedies to address the situation for sanity to prevail for the efficient running of the Sports agency.
