State of Youth and Sports: What President John Mahama had to say

If what President John Mahama said about Youth and Sports in Ghana on Thursday, February 21 during the delivery of the State of the Nation address is anything to go by, then there is something to be excited about for the near future.

Speaking to Parliamentarians and an obviously expectant citizens of Ghana, the President indicated that “a Ghc10 million Youth, Jobs and Enterprise Development Fund will be launched to

encourage and support young people to become successful entrepreneurs and create sustainable job opportunities.”

For the mass unemployed youth in the country, the President also indicated that, “Job and Enterprise Centres (JEC) will be established in all regions (of the country) to help unemployed youth and those about to enter or prepare for the world of work.”

For some, we might be too ignorant about what currently goes on in the various Senior High Schools in the country but the president made mention that competitions that are held in these schools will be re-invigorated so as to get the needed talents for the various sporting disciplines.

Students who have the talent and are skewed towards field games and not necessarily classroom activities also have reason to smile as the president stated that schools will “reserve some admissions… for talented sports and other creative students .”

This came along with the promise of providing incentives for district assemblies to establish “at least one well resourced sports and athletic infrastructure.”

As refreshing as it sounded, John Mahama stated in his address that there are plans for the development of “Youth Centres in Districts to facilitate youth meetings, interactions, cultural programs, conferences and inputs into District Assemblies' deliberative mechanisms.”

Then also government will “continue with the National Youth Achievers Awards,”

which was introduced in 2012.
The Minister in charge of Youth Sports, Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, will have a tall task to surmount, obviously judging by the boisterous nature of the President's speech concerning the ministry.

Just as his predecessor mentioned around the same time last year, president Mahama had some reservations for the performance of the senior national team, Black Stars.

The late president, Attah Mills had admonished the Stars to take penalty kicks seriously and just after a year, the Stars elimination at the same tourney was to come about through the same evil gate; penalty kicks.

Acknowledging the fact that qualifying to Brazil 2014 is not an easy task, John Mahama demanded that the handlers of the Black Stars take the appropriate steps to address the canker that resulted in the disappointing performance of the team at South Africa 2013.

“I request the FA and the management of the Stars to go back to the drawing board immediately and commence the building of a more formidable team that will not only qualify for the World cup but will surpass the achievements of their predecessors in previous World Cups.”

By this statement, the first figure of the state demands that participation in Brazil should also result in at least a semi final berth. ( The Stars were quarter finalists at South Africa 2010)

Then as if that was not enough, he went on to demand that the handlers of the national Under 23 side, Black Meteors also ensure that Ghana finds her rightful place at the 2016 Olympic Games also in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

It was at this point that the president rolled out plans to unearth talents for the various sports disciplines which included the completion of the Cape Coast Stadium and the restructuring of the National Sports Authority to enhance its efficiency and effectives in the discharge of its mandate.

President John Mahama indeed had a lot to say in relation to youth and sports development, acknowledging the fact that the youth are not the leaders of tomorrow but are the leaders of modern times.

In a year or two's time, Ghanaians with Sports at heart will of certainty refer to the statements of the President on Thursday, February 21 to ascertain whether the promises he delivered have been achieved.

The above are only a snippet of a long speech delivery that took close to two hours.

It only goes to confirm that there are equally pressing issues that will compete against youth and sports development in the coming times as the meager national resources is shared.