Sports Minister-designate Isaac Asiamah has said government will create the Youth Development Authority to manage all the various youth programmes in the country.
He believes that the creation of a mother body to monitor the various youth programmes will bring about accountability and make them more effective.
“By our manifesto, we are going to create what we call Youth Development Authority that will put together under one body all the youth programmes, so that all the scattered youth programmes – Youth in Agriculture, YES, YEA – are all brought under one body so that we can monitor and track their progress.”
Mr Asiamah made these revelations when he took his turn at the Parliament’s Appointment Committee to be vetted .
He indicated that once the Authority is created, the Sports Ministry will be able to track the progress of programmes, monitor their implementation and ensure that value for money is achieved.
The minister-designate also said he will push for the establishment of sports academies across the country.
The only sports academy in the country – Winneba College – he said, was not even accredited so “it is not even acknowledged so we prefer to call it a training centre.”
The establishment of the colleges, he said, will help encourage young people to pursue sports at the tertiary level.
“In our manifesto we spoke about setting up colleges of sports in three critical areas – the savanna, middle and coastal belts – so that people who are interested in sports from the basic level will pursue it further.”
On his plans for women in sports, Mr Asiamah said special emphasis will be put on women in sports and scholarships will be provided for girls who take special interest in sports.
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