Ghana aims to win medals and use 2023 African Games to promote African unity, cultural diversity and sustainable development - Dr, Kwaku Ofosu-Asare

The 2023 Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Africa Games (AG), to be hosted by Ghana, on Monday, paid a courtesy call on the Ghana News Agency (GNA), as part of efforts at building a strong working relationship with the media ahead of the games.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in December last year, inaugurated a nine-member LOC to commence preparations towards the hosting of the 13th African Games in 2023.

The team, led by Dr, Kwaku Ofosu-Asare, a Lecturer at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, a Sports Enthusiast and onetime Administrator and Human Resource Manager of Ashanti Goldfield Company Limited, said the visit was to establish a “two-way traffic relationship with the Ghana News Agency to achieve the national agenda”.

“We are here to build a relationship so that you would have a fair knowledge of what is expected from the LOC for the Games. Our doors would be opened to call for clarity when needed.

"We want to achieve this national project with you and also to fraternise and have a two-way traffic relationship to ensure that we achieve this national project together.

“You have come far in Journalism and we know you have the pedigree to help us achieve this national project,” the Team Lead said.

"With our mandate to organise the Games, we can’t achieve it without engaging the media. GNA is the trailblazer when we talk about Journalism in the country,” he said.

Dr Ofosu-Asare said the Committee’s task was to ensure that Ghana improved on the medal position on the table and use the games to promote African unity, cultural diversity and sustainable development.

He stated that the facility to be used for the Games would be transformed into a University for Sports for Development with focus on promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

He, therefore, called for the support of all stakeholders to make the unique endeavour successful.

Mr William Dodzi Ezah, Sports Editor, GNA, said the Sports Desk was ready to contribute to the hosting and organisation of a successful event.

Mrs Beatrice Asamani Savage, Director of Editorial, GNA, pledging the GNA’s commitment to the cause, said: “We are passionate about everything that is in Ghana's interest."

"The objectives of your Committee are in line with our mandate to churn out quality, important and relevant stories for sound decision making, sustainable national development and national cohesion - and so we are so ready and pleased to partner with you for this national assignment.”

The Ghana News Agency, as a wholesaler of news, she said, operated with the highest standards and ethics of Journalism.

"Our stories must be credible, objective and balanced to be accepted by all our subscribers, irrespective of their orientation and interests so we strive to achieve the best at all times."

She briefed them about the founding of the Agency by Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, with staff loaned from the Reuters News Agency, in 1957.

The objective was to have a news agency in Africa, with correspondents in all the major cities of the world and also across the nation, which would be the reference point of truthful and unbiased news about Africa.

Though the lack of investments in technology and logistics to modernise the GNA’s operations, over the years, had affected its speed and spread, she said, the journalists were still committed to achieving their mandate.

The Africa Games is a quadrennial competition with the last held in Morocco, where Ghana placed 15th on the medal table.

This is the first time Ghana is hosting the games.
Members of the LOC include Dr Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, the Technical Advisor on Sports at the Youth and Sports Ministry, also the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the LOC, Mr Reks Brobby, a former Olympian and an accomplished sports events organizer, the Committee's Deputy COO.

The rest are: Dr Mrs Beatrice Dwumfour Williams, a Clinical Psychologist and a University Lecturer and a Board Member of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Mr Dan Kwaku Yeboah, a Sports Journalist, and Mr Ben Nunoo Mensah, the President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC).