Former Youth and Sports Minister Nii Lantey Vanderpuye has said sport is not a priority of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP).

His comment comes after President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo failed to give substantial briefing on his administration’s plan for sports development in the country during his first State of the Nation Address delivered on Tuesday 21 February.

Speaking to Class Sports, Mr Vanderpuye said the president’s delivery, which captured only a four-second sentence on developing sports in Ghana’s first and second cycle institutions, suggested that sports was less important to the Akufo-Addo government.

“I’m surprised at the address generally but even more disappointed there was next to nothing on sports. We all know the health benefits of sports to a populace and so if the president has failed to make sports a priority in his maiden State of the Nation address, you have a clear idea how he is going to treat sports in his tenure,” he stated.

Mr Vanderpuye’s views were backed by another ex-Minister of Sports, Rashid Pelpuo, who headed the portfolio under the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

“There was nothing of note in sports in his delivery at all. He was just mean in targeting the economy and what he was going to do. Sports is just not part of what he intends to achieve with his administration; it is only an afterthought,” he said.