The Spokesperson for the National Sports Authority(NSA) for Ashanti Region, Patience Mensah has indicated that The Ghana Education Service( GES) still owes the Association which has resulted in delay in fixing the seats at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Kumasi until the major rehabilitation works by Government a few years ago.
The Baba Yara Stadium has been declared to host the much anticipated world cup qualifier between Ghana and Nigeria next Friday. However, the facility will have to be in good standing following reports that the venue still struggles to meet standard requirements.
In 2017, NSA surcharged the GES an amount of GH¢203,688 for the replacement of seats damaged during an inter-colleges games at the Baba Yara Stadium. The GES in turn charged all SHS parents/guardians of the charged schools in the Region to raise the money.
The money was paid to NSA but seats were never replaced until a major rehabilitation was carried out eventually by Government.
While audit reports have suggested that the moneys were not judiciously used, Patience Mensah in an interview Starr FM indicates that the NSA didn’t recieve all the amounts that the GES were surcharged.
“They didn’t pay all the money, as the days go by, the cedi keeps devaluing and what they paid at that time couldn’t fix all the chairs. Again, there was a directive from head office for us to halt our activities amid a renovation proposal which stopped us from fixing all the seats then, Patience Mensah claimed.
She revealed the part payment that the National Sports Authority received from the GES was rather used to fix and maintain the pitch.
“They only did part payment and that was used to equally solve the problem on the pitch” she added.
Ghanaians are hopeful in seeing the Black Stars of Ghana get a favourable result against the Super Eagles of Nigeria as the team makes a return to the Baba Yara Stadium where they are yet to lose a World Cup qualifier in 13 games.
Source: Ghana/starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/ Frank Appiah