Give us a Sports Minister of substance

It is that time of the political season where ‘Fellow’ Ghanaians will have to show their lobbying skills to catch the attention of a freshly elected and sworn-in president and his vice.

Like it is done in the legislature where ‘Honourables’ must work hard to get the attention of the Speaker, so must fellow Ghanaians scramble for space, swerve every obstacle to submit a Curriculum Vitae (CV).

Usually, one must be well connected to more powerful people closer to those on the corridors of power for a CV to land at the appropriate place.

The scramble at the end of the day is to be favoured and selected for a ministerial role. When one is successful and even cleared by the house of Honourables, the victor is likely to serve as a Minister of the state for a period only God knows.

For some, it is after this that they can beat the chest proudly and state “Yes, I have arrived.”

But it is mesmerising how the efforts of the ambitious ones can be thwarted by comments or suggestions from another set of fellow Ghanaians.

These kind of fellow Ghanaians are the ones that lacks the prerequisite to desire the aspirations of the ambitious group.

At least through various media platforms, they make their voices heard on who should be selected for which ministry and give reasons why.

This happens very often but as to whether it is heard at the corridors of power, it will be difficult to tell.

Happenings in the current political ‘cocoa’ season has been no exception. Certain offices have been inundated with a lot of these CVs that an announcement had to be made for it to stop.

It may have stopped but what will be difficult to stop, may be the lobbying and those offering words of advice on who should be selected and who should be ignored.

Ahead of the announcement of a Minister of Sports and recreation (MoSR), there have been a lot of conversation over who to consider for the post and what the person brings to the table.

Some have called for an abrasive leader, expecting him to be tough and have either a thick skin or develop a dead goat syndrome to deal with perceived ills in the sector.

Some have gone to the extent of choosing such people to specifically deal with some actions or persons at the Ghana Football Association (GFA); as if that is where all the problems of Ghana sports emanates from.

Some have come up with many other suggestions; all in a bid to get someone cut for the role of the Sports Minister.

This is gradually making the role of the Minister of sports and recreation as the most difficult one; and perhaps no longer education, finance and labour etc.

But whatever happens, the selectors must carefully consider the true needs of Ghana sports and have a good knowledge of it as well as it current administration globally.

If we say sports has become a business, the sports minister nominee must fathom what it means and what is required to make it so.

The nominee must know and accept that sports is not just football. Apart from football, Ghana has over 50 sports federations, all depending on the national cake for survival.

The decoupling of the youth from its functions and replaced by recreation should also aid the nominee in categorising these sports disciplines.

By the rule of competitive advantage, the nominee must decipher those with realistic chances of doing well to be pushed. What we need is a Minister of substance and be firm to all but fair.

By Andrew Nortey