Minister of Finance, Ken Ofori-Atta, is expected to present the budget for 2022 in parliament today.
Ken Ofori-Atta’s budget presentation today will cover all the sectors of the economy namely health, education, roads, entertainment, sports, and other sectors.
Those in sports are waiting to hear what the government has for them and most especially football fans are anxious to know Ghana’s budget for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations and the FIFA World Cup should the Black Stars make it past the playoff stage.
Ahead of the budget reading today, GhanaWeb’s Joel Eshun has put together five things that people in the sports fraternity are expecting to see in the budget reading today.
The five things are as follows:
2022 AFCON budget:
Ghanaians will be hoping to hear the government budget for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations that will be staged in Cameroon.
The government promised Ghanaians that they won’t overspend on the continent’s competitions after they budgeted $6.5 million for the 2019 edition.
Ghana ended up spending over $3.5 million even though the Black Stars were kicked out of the tournament in the round of 16 by Tunisia and they won just a game in four games.
2022 Qatar World Cup:
The last time Ghana qualified to the FIFA World Cup in 2014, it was a complete mess for the country and the disgrace on the international stage was enormous.
The government ended up setting a commission of enquiry and the revelations before Justice D.
Ghanaian’s will want to know the budget for the next year's World Cup as the Black Stars have qualified to the final stages of the qualifications.
Ghana Premier League:
Lovers of local football will also be expecting to hear something about the Ghana Premier League and other local competitions in today’s budget reading.
This is because the leadership of the Ghana Football Association has hinted in the last couple of months that they have held meetings with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to come to their aid to help lift the image of the league which will intend to help create employment.
Women’s football development:
Hasaacas Ladies are making a strong case for the development of women’s football in Ghana with their performance in the maiden edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League.
They have qualified to the finals of the competition and that has caught the attention of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his Vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.
The football community will want to hear about government plans to develop that sector to help more girls get jobs in the football industry.
Africa Games 2023:
Ghana is the host nation for the upcoming Africa Games in 2023 and with less than 15 months left for the games to start, very little has been done in terms of preparations.
Ghanaians will want to know about the plans of the government to fast-track preparations for the tournament in 2022.
Minister for Finannce, Ken Ofori-Atta