Fast Track External Works At Tamale, Essipon - Anthony

The President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana, Mr Ackah Anthony, has called for the fast tracking of external works on the Tamale and Essipon stadia as the Ghana 2008, tournament draws closer.

He has also entreated the Department of Urban Roads in Tamale to, as a matter of urgency, begin work on the main road leading to the University for Development Studies (UDS) Medical School campus in the metropolis where the four competing teams and CAF officials will be based.

The president was speaking in Tamale during an inspection tour of the multi-billion cedis modern stadium and hostel facilities for the tournament at the weekend.

Mr Anthony, who is the assistant editor of Graphic Sports, was part of a team led by the General Manager (Newspapers) of the Graphic Communications Group Limited, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh.

Among the facilities inspected were the 20,000 seater stadium, the two hostel facilities at UDS and the Tamale Polytechnic and one of the training pitches at Tamasco which is behind schedule.

The President expressed satisfaction over the level of work done on the hostel and the stadium which he described as very impressive. Work on both hostels is almost complete.

At the time of the visit to the UDS hostel, finishing touches were being put on the main cafeteria that has a conference and ambulance rooms among other facilities. Part of the main hostel has also been furnished.

It comprises four floors, and each floor contains 24 rooms and eight suites fitted with fridges, TV and Satellite facilities. There is also a gym and laundry.

Mr Anthony, who was equally awed by the beautiful road network in Tamale, urged the people to patronise the matches in their numbers and also display the true spirit of Ghanaian hospitality to “make Tamale one of the best tournament venues in the country”.

Earlier at Yendi where the team interacted with executives of the Yendi branch of the Ghana Supporters Union of Ghana, Mr Boadu-Ayeboafoh commended them for their initiative.

He called for sincerity, openness and respect in their dealings with each other, noting that, most laudable initiatives had disintegrated as a result of suspicions among each other.

“Let the spirit of the game be the dominant factor in the affairs of the association rather than monetary gains which, when not handled judiciously, could make you fall apart,” the GM further advised.

The Yendi Municipal Chief Executive, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, said the assembly was in the process of packaging the area to make it more attractive in order to benefit from the tournament.

He however expressed the preparedness of the assembly to mobilise interested football fans from Yendi to Tamale to watch the games during the tournament from January 20 to February 10 next year.

Story by Zakaria Alhassan