Reactions mixed over Nii Lante’s appointment
Heads of some national sporting associations are upbeat about the appointment of veteran sports journalist and commentator, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, as the new Minister-designate for Youth and Sports.
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Yesterday, President John Dramani Mahama released his first reshuffle list with the Odododiodoo Member of Parliament as the one to take over from the incumbent Dr Mustapha Ahmed.
In an interview with the Graphic Sports yesterday, the president of the Ghana Hockey Association, Richard Akpokavie, said Nii Lante’s rich background in sports dating back to his youthful days, would propel him to be more comfortable with the job.
According to him, as a former weightlifting president, Mr Vanderpuye would be expected to pay more to the needs of the least-financed sporting disciplines in the country.
“He is a true sportsman who has been involved in sports for over three decades and I believe strongly he will help grow and develop the game”.
On his part, the president of the Ghana Table Tennis Association, Mawuko Afadzinu, was happy that the President made the right choice and noted that Nii Lante would be a great sports minister.
“He is a sports personality first of all, he knows the game and he has been in the game throughout his life. I think he is ready for this job”, he told the Graphic Sports.
Mr Afadzinu was delighted and full of hope, saying with Nii Lante’s background in sports there was no way he would fail the lesser disciplines.
But Bishop Cornelius Adja Cofie, president of the National Paralympic Committee, sees the appointment of the former deputy minister of Local Government as both a plus and a minus for the nation.
He explained that it would be a plus for the development of the various disciplines since Nii Lante had experience in sports journalism, as well as administration and had the opportunity to interact with various stakeholders of sports in this country.
“With his vast experience, I beieve strongly that he will live up to expectation, but his success will depend on how to generate revenue to support the various federations”, he stressed.
He added that the negative aspect of Nii Lante’s appointment would complacency “thinking that he is well informed as compared to his predecessor”.
“If he takes things for granted, he will not perform as expected. He must be circumspect, especially in that particular ministry”, he cautioned.
Touching on what caused the removal of Dr Ahmed, he speculated that the afable doctor’s inability to create the necessary avenue for resources to reach the federations could be one of the reasons.
The president of the Swimming Federation, Theophilus Wilson Hervie, who also commented on the issue, said it would take good advice from the people around the new sports minister designate to succeed.
He also stressed that it would be a feather in the cap of Nii Lante to generate revenue from other stakeholders, aside the government, to help solve the financial problems that had burdened the federations.
“This is an Olympic year, so he has a lot to do but I believe that he being a sports person will definitely know how to go about it”, he added.
