Former Minister of Youth and Sports, Mustapha Ussif, has backed the Ghana Sports Fund Bill, 2025, while strongly cautioning government against relying on athletes as a source of funding for the proposed fund.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, December 18, 2025, the former minister supported the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth and Sports, which described the bill as urgent.

He reminded Parliament that the Sports Fund Bill was conceived and drafted during his tenure at the then Ministry of Youth and Sports, now renamed the Ministry of Sports and Recreation, as part of long-term efforts to secure reliable funding for sports development.

Drawing attention to the challenges confronting athletes, the former Sports Minister told the House that access to basic equipment and facilities remains a major hurdle.

“Equipment is a major challenge, not to talk of even facilities,” he said, explaining that Ghana’s hosting of the African Games provided a rare opportunity to bridge some of these gaps. “We only had to leverage on hosting the African Games we hosted last year to get most of these equipment for some of these national teams and that’s why some of them are now doing well,” he noted.

He added that quality equipment is central to athlete performance. “Some of them use these equipment to train so that they can represent us well,” he said.

On financing, he expressed concern about the reliability of budgetary allocations to sports, pointing to persistent delays in releases. “The sources of funding indicated in the report, apart from the budgetary—which we all know in this country, even the releases is a problem,” he told the House.

Instead, he identified the National Lottery Authority as a more dependable funding stream for the Sports Fund.

“The most reliable one I can say is the Lotteries,” he stated, urging stronger collaboration. “I want to say that the Minister should work very well with the National Lottery Authority so that the establishment will find innovative ways of getting proceeds from that channel.”

However, the former minister was emphatic in rejecting proposals to levy athletes. “Aside that, you can’t rely on players and athletes’ proceeds. You can’t!” he stressed.

He explained that many athletes already struggle to finance their preparations.

“Most of these athletes still rely in Ghana even for their preparations. Some of them will write or call you for Ghana to sponsor them to be able to come, even though they are professionals, because some of them are students while representing us,” he said, adding that earning opportunities outside football remain limited.

"Apart from the footballers, the rest is difficult to get money.”

Despite these concerns, he reaffirmed his support for the passage of the bill. “I support the Minister for getting this one passed,” he said.

The Sports Fund Bill, 2025, seeks to establish a dedicated fund to finance sports development, infrastructure and athlete support as part of broader reforms under the Ministry of Sports and Recreation.