Canceling 2023 Africa Games will be a waste of resources – Sports Minister

Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif says pulling out from hosting the 2023 Africa games will be unwise due to the vast amount of resources that have already been committed.

His comments come after former President Mahama suggested that the country should reconsider its decision to host the games, if it’s not too late, due to the country’s current economic difficulties.

The Sports minister however believes the Games, which takes off in August next year, will rather help Ghana’s struggling economy.

“What the former President failed to understand is that Government has already committed resources, almost 200 million in providing sports infrastructure, is he saying we should leave the investments to go waste?

“We all recognize that we are in difficult times, but we have already put huge investments in place, so we cannot allow them to go to waste, let’s leverage on those investments and bring back the economy.

“Hosting the games will help boost the tourism potential of the country, abandoning the idea of the games is rather a waste of the country’s resources.” The Sports Minister said.

The Africa Games will be held in Ghana for the first time in 2023 from August with about $140 million earmarked for facilities for the games which is expected to host 54 countries that will be competing in 25 sporting disciplines.