Africa Games: AU Mandates Stakeholders To Ascertain Ghana’s Readiness
By Lekan Sowande, Abuja.
The African Union (AU) has mandated the stakeholders in African Sports to ascertain the readiness of Ghana to host the 2023 Africa Games, as they have been given two weeks to carry out the exercise and fix the actual dates to stage the Games.
The stakeholders used the opportunity provided by the AU Meeting to resolve the problems facing the main stakeholders – the Union of Africa Sports Confederations (UCSA), the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA), and the Africa Association of Sports Confederation (AASC).
They are to conduct a detailed inspection of Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast, where the venues and facilities for the Games are located and to ascertain their state of readiness for the Games.
”Thereafter, they would fix the actual dates for the Games,” said Habu Ahmed Gumel of Nigeria, the Treasurer-General of ANOCA, who was at the Addis Ababa meeting.
The Presidents of ANOCA, Moustaph Berraf UCSA/AASC, Maj.-Gen. Ahmed Nasser and the Chairman of the AU Commission, Musa Faki signed the relevant documents that assigned them roles to play to ensure the success of the Games.
ANOCA’s presence among stakeholders is particularly important, as an affiliate of the Olympic Movement to ensure the Games serves largely as an Olympic qualification event.
The Games had earlier been scheduled to run from August 4th – 19th, 2023. Ghana would be hosting the Games for the first time, even as the opposition had been rising in opposition to the staging of the Games.
The Chairman of the Organising Committee, Kwaku Ofosu Asare has urged the Ghanaians to support the staging of the Games as it will cost as much to host as not to host.
