The National Sports Authority (NSA) has denied claims that its workers were chased out of the 10,000 seater TnA Stadium in Tarkwa in the Western Region by the Municipal Chief Executive of Tarkwa Nsuaem Assembly, Benjamin Kessie and the community.
The MCE is reported to have held a press conference on Wednesday where he announced the incident and relayed decision to abrogate the contract of the NSA over poor maintenance of the stadium funded by Goldfields Foundation.
However, this has been denied by the Authority which posits that the aim of the “misinformation” is to cause public disaffection towards its outfit.
“We want to state emphatically that the information is false.”
It noted, “Should there be any threat to the safety of our staff in the district, the NSA will have no option but withdraw its staff and close down the stadium until it becomes safe to perform our duties in the district.”
The NSA indicated that it’s detractors were only capitalising on their challenges within some regions over stadium maintenance for personal gains.
“For the records, the National Sports Authority with assistance from the Goldfields Foundation and insistence on user fees from football clubs has so far provided exceptional maintenance service at the Stadium. This can be verified at the stadium. Right from the GHALCA Top 4 Tournament through to the Champions of Champions and the Medeama First League match, everybody present, including dignitaries were very much appreciative of the work done by National Sports Authority.
“The claim that ‘community members led by Hon. Kessie expressed concerns over the poor state of the stadium citing neglect and mismanagement under the National Sports Authority’s oversight’ is therefore misinformation meant to cause public disaffection for the NSA. What we have done and rightly so, is to reject efforts on the part of certain clubs to personalize use of a national asset which should be available and accessible to entire public and all sports including football.”
It continued, “It is false that the community wants to take over the stadium but true that certain powerful stakeholders are attempting to personalize use of a public asset for club. The stadium is a national facility and the NSA as empowered by law will ensure equity in access and use for all users and all sports.”
Source:opemsuo.com