Minister for Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has pleaded with the Ghanaian media not to focus only on the negative news surrounding the ongoing 2023 African Games held in the country.
The event, which officially began on March 8, 2024, has been saddled with a lot of negativity, particularly in relation to the athletes representing Ghana in the games.
Some of the athletes, including Cyclist Abigail Tetteh and Winnifred Ntumi, who have won three medals for Ghana in the weightlifting disciplines, have all bemoaned the lack of support for them.
Abigail Tetteh for instance, expressed anger after she and three other cyclists could not complete the women’s race due to inadequate equipment.
However, the sports minister at a press conference on Monday, March 11, 2024, told the media to focus on the positive stories, which will sell Ghana to the world.
“Every international organization that we have engaged is applauding Ghana for a very spectacular game so far. So let us all embrace and come and position Ghana as the sports destination that we are all yearning to position. That is my appeal to the media,” he said.
“There are a lot of positives that we can report and talk about. Let’s focus on them so that we can position our country.”
Ghana has so far gotten only four medals, which puts them sixth on the medal table.