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Maintenance culture in Ghana is practically non-existent and has been a ‘ghost’ practice for ages.
This is no different in the sports arena despite the Sports Ministry and National Sports Authority charged with ensuring that the country’s sports facilities are well taken of.
Over the years, sports stadiums, arenas, complexes, and centers, have been left to rot all over the country.
This, Ghana’s new Sports and Recreation Minister Kofi Iddie Adam has pledged to make a thing of the past. However, such pledges with no action have been way too common in Ghanaian politics.
But Adams, during his appearance before the Appointments Committee on Thursday, January 30, 2025, said poor maintenance culture must change.
We cannot allow our facilities to deteriorate to the extent that we face bans from using them. Strengthening our maintenance culture will be a priority to keep them in top condition.
Before that happens though, what are some abandoned sports infrastructures the minister and newly appointed NSA Director General Yaw Ampofo Ankrah should direct their attention to?
Below are five abandoned sports infrastructures across Ghana
1. Azumah Nelson Sports Complex
It’s a shame really what a facility named after a two-time world champion and boxing hall of famer has been reduced to. The Azumah Nelson Sports Complex is an eyesore.
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The facility located in Kaneshie was part of 10 Youth Resource Centres set for construction in 2018, and meant to be finished in nine months to serve as a multipurpose sports center, accommodating over 40 different sporting disciplines upon completion.
However, seven years later, it’s in a sorry state unbefitting for a legend.
There’s a glimmer of hope if Minister of Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo’s promise on January 30, 2025, to renovate the facility to provide local youth with the opportunity to develop their sporting talents is fulfilled.
2. Essipong Sports Stadium
Despite a bold claim by then Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta that renovation works on the Sekondi Sports Stadium, popularly known as Essipong Stadium, was 90% complete during the presentation of the 2021 Budget Statement on the floor of Parliament, it’s a shadow of its previous glory.
Commissioned in 2008 with a seating capacity of 20,000, the stadium hosted several matches during the 2008 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) and served as the home ground for Sekondi Hasaacas FC.
But years of neglect has led to parts ripping off, washrooms deteriorating, seats coming off, sand covering major stands. The stadium now looks like a giant pile of scrap metals and concrete.
3. Dormaa Multipurpose Sports Complex
The Dormaa Multipurpose, according to reports, cost seven million Ghana cedis to construct but has been abandoned since 2020. For five years now, weeds and plants have taken over the FIFA standard pitch and running tracks.
As of mid-2024, reports suggest the stands and washroom were the only completed parts. Major parts remain uncompleted.
4. Navrongo Sports Complex
Broken seats, overgrown weeds, unplayable pitch, characterise the abandoned Navrongo Sports Complex in a post shared by renowned sports journalist Saddick Adams in July 2024.
5. Bolgatanga Multipurpose Sports Court
In 2011, former President John Evans Atta Mills allocated $100,000 for the construction of a multipurpose sports court in Bolgatanga. However, 14 years later, that has not been realised with the contractor no way to be found.
The project was meant to include Volleyball, Hand Ball and Basketball courts inside the non-functional Bolgatanga Sports Stadium, but after 40% percent work was completed by the contractor per the Finance Ministry’s project progress Report, the project was abandoned.
Weeds and shrubs have taken over the facility which now serves as a den for drug addicts.
The expected external works to be done which included soil drainage, driveway drains, gravelling, and fencing were not also completed in the project progress Report.
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Millions of dollars of taxpayers' money cannot keep going down the drain. This attitude of negligence must change as soon as possible.