Sports Authority Needs Restructuring - New NSA Boss

The newly appointed Director General of the National Sports Authority, Robert Sarfo Mensah, has indicated that his long term vision for the National Sports Authority is to ensure that the Authority is attractive enough to attract investors and partners from the private sector as well as improved government investment in the Authority.

Speaking to Nana Kyei Adomah Samuel on Sunyani based Suncity radio; the former lawmaker decried the huge indebtedness of the NSA and indicated that his vision ranges from reducing the huge debt stock of the Authority in the short term to ultimately making the Sports Authority attractive to both the public and private sectors in the long term.

“In the short term, the Authority has so many challenges, the failure to deal with which would make progress impossible,” he said. “The first of such challenges is the huge debt that has buried the Authority,” he added. “Therefore within the short term, I should be able, together with the Youth and Sports Ministry and management negotiate to either pay or at least re-schedule the payment plan with our creditors in order to reduce the pressure on the Authority,” he continued. “It is also imperative to reorganize the Authority by restructuring and putting in place the needed legal framework in order to diffuse the general perception of corruption about the Authority by the Ghanaian public,” he added.

“In the medium term we will work to improve our sporting infrastructure in the country with the renovation of the Sunyani coronation park, the Accra Sports stadium and other stadia in sight,” Mr. Sarfo stated. “In the long term, we would work to make the sector a very attractive sector in order to make it a priority sector of government so that more resources will be allocated there,” he added. “We will work assiduously to come out with innovative and wonderful proposals in order to attract and court the support of the corporate world and the private sector, both local and international,” he concluded.

Mr. Robert Sarfo Mensah, who is the former Member of Parliament for the Asunafo North Constituency in the Brong Ahafo region, replaces Mr. Joe Kpenge who was appointed to the post in 2013 by former president John Mahama as NSA boss.