'Co-hosting not best option'

Page, Backpage, Jan 18, 2008
Story: Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah
THE Vice-Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the Ghana 2008 tournament, Lepowura Alhaji N.M.D Jawula, has stated that the current crave for co-hosting international football events is not the best for the development of sporting infrastructure for small and economically less-endowed countries.
He noted that allowing individual countries to host international football tournaments alone had left big legacies for such countries over the years.
Lepowura Jawula was speaking on the topic; “Co-hosting of African Cup of Nations, challenges and prospect”, at the on-going 2nd Accra Biennial Football Expo at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).
He said most African countries who had single-handedly hosted the African Cup of Nations had benefited for taking up the challenge.
He cited the co-hosting of the 2000 edition of the CAN by Ghana and Nigeria and said Ghana did not benefit much in terms of its infrastructure development because most of the visitors stayed in Nigeria.
Lepowura Jawula stated the construction of two modern stadia and the rehabilitation of the Ohene Djan and Baba Yara stadia in Accra and Kumasi respectively explain why it was important for such competitions to be hosted single-handedly.
He said new hotels and restaurants have sprang up in the four cities where the competition would take place.
The managing director of Stanbic Bank, Ghana, Mr Alhassan Andani, urged the business community in Ghana to position themselves well to reap the benefit of such international tournament.
He said the bank has assisted some investors to put up accommodation facilities in Tamale in order to create employment and benefit from the competition.