State Of Accra Sports Stadium: NSA Blames Contractor

Head of Public Relations at the National Sports Authority (NSA,) Mr. Hamah Hamid Issakah, has asked Ghanaians to blame the deterioration of the Accra Sports Stadium on the contractor that built the stadium and not NSA. He could not understand why people who were involved in the refurbishment of the stadium would turn around today and blame the NSA for the current state of the stadium. �It is amazing today how people who were part of the refurbishment of the Accra Sports Stadium are now blaming the NSA� what an unfortunate situation?� he said. According to him, NSA never had a hand in the re-construction of the nation�s �Wembley� adding that �every work on the stadium was solely done by Michelette and Co, a civil engineering company that re-constructed the stadium,� head of public relations at NSA stressed. Speaking to Today Sports, Mr. Issakah took a swipe at Micheletti and Company for failing to contact them when the contract was first awarded to them in 2007. He recounted that the most painful aspect of the re-construction of the stadium was when all the staff at NSA were ordered to vacate the premises for the commencement of work on the Accra Sports Stadium. �As managers of the facility for all these years, we thought we would be consulted for our input,� he said. According to him, the NSA had a feel of the facility for the first time when it was handed over to them by the then Minister of Youth and Sports, Yaw Osafo Marfo, under the Kufuor�s administration. �The only time we got the opportunity to have access to the stadium was when Hon. Yaw Osafo Marfo handed over the facility to us in the presence of the then Chief Executive of NSA, Mr. Prince Oduro. He indicated that Michelet and Co., failed to do due diligence before commencing work on the stadium. �If you supervise the construction of the facility and then you go back and say the Sports Authority is not doing proper maintenance then it�s very unfortunate,� Mr. Issakah averred. On the issue of the dysfunctional scoreboard over the past years, Mr. Issakah decried the situation and added that �it is if nobody cares about it.� The problem of the scoreboard, he stressed, was critical, and must be dealt with the urgency it needed. �If you look at the position of the scoreboard you will see that the essential parts are facing the sea with the back not covered� when you go to Kumasi it is a different thing all together because there is a concrete wall enclosing the structure which prevents it from rains,� he noted. He nonetheless, reiterated that the state of the scoreboard was not as a result of poor maintenance, but rather the waves from the sea. That, he pointed, was because of poor judgement on the part of the contractor.