The Local Planning Committee for the 31st edition of the Second Cycle Inter-regional Sports Festival to be held in the Bolgatanga Municipality in Upper East Region is worried as the committee’s work is seriously being obstructed by logistical and financial constraints.
In less than two weeks the sport festival will start and yet the Local Planning Committee has not received the needed financial and logistical support from individual and organizations it has approached.
The sports festival is organized by the Ghana Education Service for second cycle schools across the country and over the years the event has been held in different regions. The last time the Upper East Region held the event was 20 years ago.
A total of 2,500 students made up of boys and girls drawn from the existing 10 regions will converge in Bolgatanga to compete from September 11 to September 22, 2019.
Disciplines to be competed in during this period include soccer, handball, volleyball, table tennis, athletics and netball. There will be hockey, basketball and badminton.
Over the weekend the Upper East Federation Chairman, Ababu Afelibeik at a press conference said the Local Planning Committee is still struggling to mobilize resources in the Upper East Region despite some much efforts made.
“We have a fundraising committee; we sent letters out to solicit for funds to enable the region to prepare our athletes and also prepare to host the rest of the regions. It’s sad to say that since the committee went out with letters up to date, we have not been able to mobilize any meaningful resource to even take care of the Upper East Region’s contingents who have been in camp since the 13th of July.” Mr. Afelibeik disclosed.
Mr. Afelibeik also disclosed that they committee has appealed to the various Members of Parliament from the Upper East Region for financial support, unfortunately nothing has been heard from them.
“We went to Accra to meet our MPs to appeal for assistance from them. They gave us assurances that they will assist, but up to date, we have not had any word from them. We have been calling and contacting them to see how far they can organize something for us. We have also met with the DCEs.
The Upper East Regional Minister has also written to them to support us, but nothing yet. The date for the sports festival is almost at hand and we have not yet gathered the resources needed to successfully host and also make an impact as a region.” a sad looking Afelibeik said.
Apart from financial constraints the committee is also faced with the fact that the Upper East Region cannot boast of standard sports facilities. The latest one being constructed by the Ministry of Sports and National Youth Authority in Navrongo, cannot be completed before the sports festival starts.
FROM: Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Bolgatanga