The President of Ghana Athletics, Mr. Bawah Fuseini, has sparked debate by suggesting that Ghana should not have more than 40 sporting disciplines. Speaking on GTV Sports+ on June 9, he emphasised the need for a cap on federations to ensure effective funding and resource allocation.
“If you ask me personally, I don’t think Ghana should be licensing more than 40 federations,” Mr. Fuseini said. “The federations are just too many, too many. If I had my own power or authority, I would put a cap on the federations.”
Mr. Fuseini proposed categorising federations to guide government resource allocation. “We need to have categorisation of the federation… Federation A, Federation B, Federation C, Federation D. And I’ll put all the conditions that you need to do to move from one category to another.”
Federation A would comprise federations with the potential to win international medals. “Those are the category A that should be looked at very seriously. These are federations that can put Ghana on the highest pedestal.”
Federation B would include federations that can win African medals. “Those who can go to Africa can win African medals.”
Mr. Fuseini explained that Category C would comprise federations that can perform well at the West African level, while Category D would include domestic federations. “Then we go to category C for West Africa and category D for those who are domestic federations and let them develop toward that area.”
Mr. Fuseini cited international examples, such as Australia, Britain, and Brazil, where federations receive different levels of support based on their performance and potential. “You go to Australia, Britain. They don’t give the federation the same level of support. Brazil is there. Brazil football is different from athletics; it’s very huge in Brazil. Volleyball is a very huge thing in Brazil. Basketball is a very huge thing in Brazil.”
He highlighted the funding challenges faced by Ghana Athletics, stating that a minimum of GH₵300,000 to GH₵400,000 is required to organise a single national championship in Accra.
Mr. Fuseini criticised the current funding system, where all federations receive equal support despite differing needs. “You don’t lump all the federations together and say I’m going to give them 10, 10, 10, 10… Some federations with 10,000 can run the whole year program. In other federations, 10,000 cannot even do one-tenth of its programmes.”
