Akufo-Addo sacks NSA Director-General after CAF revokes pitch licence

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has sacked the Director-General of the National Sports Authority (NSA).

Mr Dodzie Numekevor, in a letter from the President’s Office, signed by Amb Nana Bediatuo Asante, Secretary to the President, was instructed to vacate his office on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.

Also, he was asked to hand said office over to the Chairman of the Governing Board of the NSA, Mr Seth Panwum.

The NSA Director General’s sack comes after what sports journalist Gary Al-Smith captured on his X as “the disgraceful and unprecedented banning of Ghanaian stadiums from hosting Category ‘A’ football matches”.

After a September 5 AFCON 2025 qualifier between Ghana and Angola, the coaches from both teams complained about the poor pitch of Kumasi’s Baba Yara Sports Stadium. 

After ending Ghana’s 24-year undefeated home record in Kumasi with a 1:0 score line, Pedro Goncalves of Angola said: “We always tried to play football, but the pitch was difficult. A country like Ghana deserves a better stadium, a better pitch for football.”

For Ghana’s follow-up Group F match against Niger on September 9, the Black Stars travelled to Berkane, Morocco, to play. They drew 1:1.

In October, Ghana will face Sudan, a game which will be played in Togo. 

Confederation of African Football (CAF) boss Patrice Motsepe has bemoaned poor football venues hold sports development back on the continent.

“There’s nothing that frustrates me more than a national team or a football team of a country playing outside. You can’t build football in any country in Africa if the national team or football clubs do not play in front of their nations,” he said in Nairobi, Kenya, on September 16.

Meanwhile, going into the December 7 polls, the former NSA Director-General, Dodzie Numekevor, is the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Sege Constituency, Greater Accra region.

Source:classfmonline.com