Communiqué On Eminent Sports Administrators & Personalities Retreat 11th & 12th September 2014

After two days of deliberations, the following recommendations were made by participants of the Eminent Sports Administrators & Personalities Retreat and Validation Of The Revised Sports Bill held at the Best Western Premium Hotel in the Airport Residential Area, Accra on Thursday, 11th and Friday, 12th September, 2014.

The Retreat:-
1.0 REAFFIRMED that the philosophy of the novel Eminent Persons in Sports Retreat, a non-partisan, all-inclusive platform for brainstorming on matters affecting topical issues relating to the promotion and development of all sports should be organized and hosted by the Ministry on biennial basis. And also that, whilst the Ministry shall have to commit publicly to the adoption and implementation of any communiqué emanating therefrom after due process, there should always be an accompanying timeframe for such an implementation plan.

2.0 That the Retreat was happy to be part of the validation process of the National Sports Bill before submission to Cabinet; and pray that the Bill document shall be enriched by the discussions and recommendations of the participants.

3.0 Specifically on the matter of Sports Development in Ghana, the Eminent Sports Administrators and Personalities' Retreat recommends as follows for the consideration of the Ministry and all National Sports Associations & Federations on strategies for the development and management of all sports in the country:-

3.1 That there is the compulsive need for the country to undertake the construction and provision of both indoor and outdoor modern, multi-purpose sports facilities, to include playing courts, athletics tracks, and boxing gymnasia – at least with one (1) multi-purpose sports hall in each regional capital; and also that national associations should, on their own explore viable possibilities to source for private sector funding as well as partnership to develop requisite facilities to support the development and growth of their disciplines;

3.2 That there should be adequate provision for a maintenance culture and dispensation, including insurance cover for all the facilities and judicious usage for training, recreation and competition;

3.3 That the Ministry should explore all possibilities for facilitating accessibility to adequate supply of modern specified and standard equipment desired to maintain competitiveness globally for Ghanaian sportsmen and women, and also reasonably priced for the training and competitions at all levels; and that to this end, the Ministry will endeavour to pursue the establishment of local private sector manufacturing firms to produce and supply affordable equipment and kits for all the various disciplines;

3.4 That the Ministry should strengthen and adequately resource the National Sports College, Winneba so it could train more technical personnel for grassroots sports development; while hardworking technical personnel should be given international exposure and further training to enable them impart the knowledge and experiences acquired to would-be trainers; and explore possibilities for increased exchange programmes with development partners to build capacities for technical personnel of all national sports associations;

3.5 That National Sports Associations should make provisions for their technical personnel to undertake talent hunts at all competition venues and from all communities nationwide with the view of unearthing budding talents for their disciplines; institute camping and training clinics and or centres to groom persons identified as 'talented' on regular basis; organize periodic competitions at all levels – zonal, district, regional and national as well as involving schools, colleges and institutions, particularly security services; explore modalities for the establishment of a scholarship scheme to offer financial support for the education of their budding talents as a motivation; strengthen the framework for collaboration and or cooperation between the national associations, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Education and Security Services; and collaborate with Schools and Colleges Sports Associations to synchronize and integrate their activities into the calendars of the various disciplines;

3.6 That each national association must help its membership to be abreast with competition rules and regulations of their international federations; as well as develop a code of conduct and ethics to bind all persons representing the nation at various competitions and events;

3.7 That national associations for sports shall endeavour to organize and promote their disciplines for both local and international competitions, where for the local consideration should be from zonal, district, regional to national to cover institutional, schools and colleges, polytechnics, universities, security services as well as the National Unity Games; and for international competitions cover the Olympic Games, Youth Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, All-Africa Games, African Youth Games, ECOWAS Games and other regional, continental and world championships involving national associations, polytechnics and universities;

3.8 That the Ministry should explore all possibilities for the provision and incorporation of well-established National Sports Medical Centres of Excellence into the current Korle Bu (Accra), Komfo Anokye (Kumasi), Tamale and Cape Coast Teaching Hospitals to train specialized medics for such areas as physiotherapy, psychology, nutrition and dieting, masseur, and sports injuries to handle the burgeoning sports industry; that the Ministry should work on the establishment of an anti-doping centre in the country to serve Ghana and the sub-region; that the Ministry should assist national sports associations with securing the requisite ICT infrastructure for greater application of modern technology for scoring, communication, recording and analyzing performances at training, matches and competitions; and also assisting national sports associations to establish separate libraries to aid research work;

3.9 That the Ministry should support each national sports association, based on recognizable criteria, with a branded bus to enhance sports development and promotion as well as ease transportation of teams and contingents with the country and the sub-region for zonal competitions and events;

3.10 That all national sports associations should endeavour to get all their sports performers and non-performers including trainers, volunteers and other officials registered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) as part of a general welfare package; and also that all national sports delegations should be provided with COMPULSORY / MANDATORY comprehensive insurance policies to cover the period of local training, camping and participation in international competitions;

3.11 That the National Sports Authority should, as a part of its mandate, establish a National Technical Committee for the purposes of adopting a fair and standard criteria for the selection of disciplines for all major international games; adopting the standards and minimum qualifying marks and targets for all participants selected for all international competitions; analyzing the performances and standards for all national individual sportsmen and women and teams before and after all competitions; and ensuring that all national sports delegations and teams are properly and well-kitted in the national colours for every international games and competitions;

3.12 That the Retreat recognized that discipline in sports is currently very low, accepting that sportsmen and women do not honour the national flag, sing anthem and recite the national pledge with all its stanzas, and call for new stringent measures to ensure that henceforth all performers and officials are mandatorily required to be able to sing the national anthem and recite the national pledge; and that

3.12.1 All performers and officials are to maintain self-discipline in terms of weight control, eating and drinking habits; believing that good discipline ensures success, good health, training and good performances at games;

3.12.2 The importance of statutes and regulations, including camp code of ethics should be made operational in order to assist in the management of individuals sportsmen and women as well as delegations and teams; and that recognizing the tenets of discipline are seeds that ought to start from the basic levels of life through to adulthood, believe that on the educational front, discipline should be ensured from the basic, junior to senior high schools to tertiary through sports and as a way of life, propose that enforcement of discipline through sports at all these levels should be strictly enforced to infuse the broader attributes inherent in participation in sports in all students and pupils; and that non-students / pupils interested in sports should on regular basis be camped and offered some basic education and discipline, training as well as inculcation of values and ethics prior to competitions and games; and also that henceforth education should be a major consideration for selection of performers and officials into national teams for varied reasons including curbing forged ages;

3.12.3 A national database should be acquired for all potential performers for all national sports associations, including biological data such as blood groups;

3.12.4 The services of seasoned administrators and managers, knowledgeable and skilled in management functions, able to interpret the statutes, rules, regulations, good human relations, basic knowledge in local and international sports competitions, and psychology, should be procured for all levels of the sports industry; and accept that all national sports associations require the services of competent persons with the requisite knowledge in the academic, professional and training skills regarding the rules of the games, both on the local and international levels;

3.12.5 There should be greater collaboration and integration of programmes between the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS), the National Sports Authority (NSA), Ministry of Education (MoE), the Ghana Education Service (GES), and the State Security Services, if Ghana sports is to reach the next level as the nation prepares for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in Brazil;

3.13 That the Retreat commended and endorsed the Ministry of Youth and Sports' intent to host a national conference on Financing Of Sports In Ghana, scheduled for the Movenpick Hotel on Tuesday, 30th September, 2014 and accepted the open invitation for participation offered by the Honourable Minister, but however propose as follows:-

3.13.1 That the Ministry of Youth and Sports should as a matter of priority consider providing the legal framework for the establishment of a Sports Trust Fund as an alternative, creative, innovative option for the funding of sports in the country for all national sports associations and at all levels; and that such a Fund could consider the following as some of the sources of contributions (a) Sports Lottery; (b) contributions from the Petroleum Heritage Fund; and (c) a percentage of the existing VAT regime; and that a Fund Administrator should be appointed with clear, specific mandate for its administration;

3.13.2 That national associations should be encouraged to engage marketing consultants to assist their individual fund raising and sponsorship drives;

3.13.3 That all budgetary allocations made to specific national sports associations should be released to same on the their release to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, and through to the National Sports Authority;

3.13.4 That while individual national sports associations would explore partnerships with the private sector to develop and build their own infrastructure over time, the Ministry should as a matter of long term strategy to develop sports generally across the nation, consider securing the rights to host and organize the next 12th All-Africa Games in 2019 and leverage the event to lay the foundation for increasing the infrastructure stock for promotion of sports in the country for the varied benefits therefrom;

3.13.5 That all the national sports associations in conjunction with the National Sports Authority, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) should as a matter of priority fund an economic impact assessment of sports on the economy of Ghana over the last two decades and use same to re-position Sports on the National Agenda as one of the alternative tools for national development; and

3.13.6 That whilst national sports associations would explore the using the offer of merchandising and licensing rights to grow their funds base, the Ministry of Youth and Sports is implored to consider providing the legal framework for ambush marketing to protect the rights of sponsors and license holders for merchandising and greater commercialization of sports as part of the emerging sports industry;

3.14 That the Ministry should support the national sports associations to shift support to sports academies at the community levels through a three-tier approach; namely (a) Government provides the enabling incentives such as tax breaks for private individuals to establish sports academies; (b) Support is given to professional sports clubs who show evidence of viable youth development; and (c) Government encourages international and local investors who do business with it to support the establishment of Sports Academies across the country, especially in deprived areas as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR); and that a program of talent development and export should be pursued as a conscious national sports policy.

3.15 That all National Associations and their Executives should ensure that financial transparency and accountability is generated around their brand to attract corporate sponsors, who most often than not, want to benefit from brand association. That in marketing themselves to the corporate world, national associations should be able to highlight the benefits that commercial partners are likely to obtain by associating with them; and that national associations should also pursue sponsorship in kind to support specific budget lines like water, medicals, fuel, insurance etc.

DATED: Friday, 12th September, 2014