President of Ghana Athletics, Bawah Fuseini, underscores the critical need for thorough testing of event facilities and equipment ahead of the upcoming African Games, emphasising the importance of ensuring readiness for the prestigious competition.

"Let me emphasise the importance of the school sports Ghana Athletics will be organising on 24 -28 February," Bawah says.

The athletics governing body tentatively scheduled February 24 - 28, 2024, for the National Invitational Students Athletics Championship (NISAC) at the University of Ghana, the centre for the field and track events.

Concerns have arisen regarding the possible postponement of the NISAC event, but Bawah stresses that its success is paramount in determining the overall readiness for the African Games.

"It is so crucial to the successful organisation of the African Games, especially the track events. We are using this school programme to test-run the facilities including the grandprix elite electronic timing system the government bought for the games," he explained.

The African Games will start on March 8, 2024. With the NISAC event concluding on February 28, the LOC and contractors would have a little over a week to fix areas that need to be addressed when they are noticed during the field and track test-run.

"We have no option and we have no other better time to test them before the game to ascertain our readiness than on 24 to 28th of this month because the Games start in March.

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"If we decide to postpone or shift it to a later date other than this month, it will have a serious adverse effect on the event because we will not have time to test-run the facilities and we will not have the time to test-run the electronic timer," he noted.

Ghana Athletics has trained about 100 technical and officiating officials for the Games, and taken them through practicals at the Open Championships held in Cape Coast.

The officials, however, must go through not less than three practical sessions to be certified to officiate international competitions. 

"The school championships are not just about the competitions, but also our officials. It has a multiplicity of impacts that cannot be overlooked.

"Our officials for the Games will also be tested for us to know their level for the competition so it is imperative or extremely important that this competition comes next week.

"The LOC cannot bring hundreds of technical officiating officials from other countries to come and officiate. It's not possible and it's also not right that we buy new equipment without testing them and use them for such a big competition.

"It is a must to test the new equipment and the facilities," Bawah stated.