Focusing only on football will be disastrous – Paralympic President warns Kofi Adams
The President of the Ghana Paralympic Committee, Samson Deen, has cautioned newly appointed Sports Minister Kofi Adams against prioritizing football at the expense of other sports disciplines.
Kofi Adams’ appointment as Sports Minister was confirmed following the release of the third batch of ministerial appointments awaiting Parliamentary approval.
He is expected to go through vetting to officially assume his new role.
Adams replaces Mustafa Ussif, who served as Sports Minister since 2021 under the New Patriotic Party government led by Nana Akufo-Addo.
In an interview with JoySports, Samson Deen expressed confidence in Kofi Adams’ abilities.
“In my opinion, Mr. Kofi Adams is a wonderful personality,” he said.
“With his background as a former youth organizer of the NDC party and spokesperson for the Rawlings family, he brings a wealth of experience and understanding of the sports sector.
“There are over 50 Olympic sports disciplines and 22 disability/para-sports disciplines, including football. Thus, football is not the only sporting discipline in the country.
“Overly concentrating attention and resources on football at the expense of other sports will be disastrous. It could lead to a lack of diversity in the sports sector, a decrease in the overall quality of sports, and a loss of potential talent in other disciplines,” he added.
The Paralympic President also outlined areas he expects Kofi Adams to prioritize, including the development of a National Sports Policy that focuses on holistic sports management and the revival of school and college sports programs.
He stressed the need for a dedicated funding stream for sports programs and called for human resource development in the sector.
Deen also highlighted the importance of strengthening the National Sports Authority (NSA), regional directorates, and the Winneba Sports College, while urging increased support for sports federations and the development of community sports facilities.
As the President of the Ghana Paralympic Committee, Deen also raised concerns specific to para-sports. He called for a direct budgetary allocation and transfer of funds to sports federations and associations to ensure efficiency.
Furthermore, he urged the ministry to give equal attention and support across all sports disciplines, particularly in terms of resource allocation, and advocated for the establishment of a dedicated desk at the ministry to address para-sports and related matters.