The Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) has presented the National Sports Authority (NSA) with US$50,000 as seed money for the 2017 National Sports Festival.
The NSA has budgeted about GH₵2million for the festival and the ministry’s donation was a step in the right direction to pave way for other corporate bodies to come on board.
Meanwhile, Excellence in Broadcasting (EIB) Network has also supported the National Sports Festival with GH¢30, 000 worth of airtime.
The gesture forms part of the media empire’s support to promote sports in the country.
The National Sports festival is scheduled for Ashanti Regional capital Kumai from August 31 to September 7, 2017.
The event will see about 2500 athletes and officials compete in various disciplines such Athletics, Badminton, Tennis, Taekwondo, Football and many others with athletes coming from across the 10 regions.
Director General of the National Sports Authority Robert Sarfo Mensah said, “we have made an estimation of GH¢2 million for one week for the cost centers. We have seven cost centres in the budget we made”.
“We are going to transport 2,500 athletes and officials from all the ten regions to the Games village. The cost of transporting the athletes and officials is stated in the budget. When they come we will feed them three times for seven days and is factored in to the cost as well accommodation.
“We have bought new equipment for the competitions, paying for security because we need to ensure maximum security at the games village. There is media promotion, stationary and all these things must be factored in to the cost so we need this money to be able to organise the National Sports Festival”, he added.
Robert Sarfo Mensah is calling on Corporate Ghana to come on board to help the National Sports Festival become a success.