National Sports Authority risks losing bus to auction
The National Sports Authority (NSA) has sent an SOS message to the government to intervene and rescue its 30-seater Mitsubishi Coaster bus from going under the auctioneer’s gavel later this week.
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Information available to the Graphic Sports suggests that the NSA has formally written to the ministry about the development but there has not been any response as of the time of going to press.
The NSA fears that losing the vehicle, which serves as the only means of transportation for all sporting disciplines in the country embarking on long-distance journeys, would have dire consequences for the movement of national teams for sporting activities.
Last week, Goshen Travel and Tours obtained a court judgement to garnishee the account of the sports regulatory body and seize any movable property of the authority to defray an amount of $25,000 owed it by the NSA.
Consequently, the company took custody of the GH¢120,000 bus at the Accra Sports Stadium and subsequently handed it over to an auctioneer at Adabraka in Accra.
Frederica Davies, PRO of the NSA told the Graphic Sports that if the planned auction of the vehicle went ahead, the NSA would be left with no vehicle to transport teams and would further affect sports development in the country as it was the only available bus for use by all the 41 sporting federations under the NSA’s jurisdiction.
“This bus was recently used by the volleyball team to trek to Lome. The handball team use it, the basketball team and other teams have used the vehicle to travel to countries such as Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger and Nigeria. So we are at a loss now,” said a worried Ms Davies.
According to her, since its seizure, some sporting associations who requested for the services of the vehicle to travel had been rendered immobile since the bus was no longer in the domain of the authority.
The NSA’s Chief Accountant, Reverend Solomon Otoo, told this paper that the situation was very sad and worrying.
“It is very sad that a bus which was purchased at a market rate of GHc120,000 is going to be auctioned for about GHc10,000 to GHc15,000.”
