Ghana wants to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations but the Ashanti Regional Sports Director, Saka Acquaye believes hosting the All Africa Games will serve Ghana’s interests better.
In the recent past, Ghana has co-hosted the Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 2000, and hosted it alone in 2008 and would love to host it in the biennial competition come 2017.
Ghana’s new self-belief stems from the fact that Libya who were supposed to host the 31st edition of the competition pulled out following political unrest that has engulfed the country, but Saka Acquaye believes Ghana will be better off with the All Africa Games.
”Ghana should be thinking of hosting the All Africa Games,” he said.
”Hosting the Cup of Nations is nothing new to Ghanaians because we done it over and over again.”
Saka Acquaye who was once a national swimmer went further to explain the reasons behind his opinion.
”Hosting the All Africa Games demands a lot in terms of sports infrastructure. We will need to bulid more boxing gyms, more basketball, volleyball and handball courts, swimming pools and many more in order to qualify to be given the nod to host the competition and after the competition, aspiring athletes can use the facilities to sharpen their skills.
“We should be trying our hands on something new to test our capabilities as a nation to host such competitions which require more than the sporting facilities we have,” he added.
Since it started, the All Africa Games has never taken place in Ghana, a situation Saka Acquaye says is worrying.
”It will give us an indication of what we are missing out and where in terms of infrastructure Ghana should be aiming at improving in sports. In any case, does it not beat your imagination that a big country like Ghana has never hosted the All Africa Games since its inception in 1965,” he queried.
By Kwaku Ahenkorah – Kessben FM & TV
