Evans Opoku Bobie
The Deputy Minister-designate for Youth and Sports, Evans Opoku Bobie has called for the state to give tax incentives to companies which will want to finance sporting activities.
According to him, financing sporting activities in the country has been a major challenge and therefore believes that tax incentives could be a magic wand to ameliorate the situation.
Appearing before the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Tuesday, Mr. Bobie said the situation was different during the First Republic, which period, he indicated, was not difficult to raise money for football activities, for example.
“Corporate Ghana should be able to support football. The state must give tax incentives to companies who will want to finance sporting activities,” he stressed and added, “When I’m approved, I will share this idea with my Minister and support him to secure sponsorships for sporting activities.”
The Asunafo North MP also said there was the need to revive coast football and Inter Schools and Colleges Soccer Competition (INTERCO) competition to identify and develop talents.
“I think that we need to revisit the era of INTERCO to be able to identify talents and develop them. As I seek your approval to go to the Ministry [of Youth and Sports], I pledge to support my Minister to collaborate with the Ministry of Education and the National Sports Authority to develop that sector properly.”
“The youth of our country are the future leaders and I think that everything must be put in place to develop them. One of the vehicles of developing the youth is the youth leadership training school,” he posited.
By Ernest Kofi Adu, Parliament House