Kofi Adams, the minister of sports, has denied rumors that the government intends to impose a new tax to fund the proposed Sports Fund.
Mr. Adams explained during an October 8 appearance on JoyNews’ PM Express that the government’s plan does not aim to establish a whole new tax, but rather to use a portion of current levies to fund sports development.
“We are not introducing a tax,” the Buem MP said. “But since those already exist, we are putting some levies on them and taking a percentage of them. That’s all that we are going to do.”
Without any new tax provisions, the Minister clarified, the bill creating the Sports Fund has already been sent to Cabinet for approval before being sent to Parliament.
“The bill that we have sent to Cabinet for approval, that is to be sent to Parliament, does not have any such provision of a new tax,” he emphasised.
“If Parliament, in their wisdom, decides that they want to impose a tax to generate this fund, that will be Parliament’s decision, not what we are proposing now.”
Mr. Adams said that it would be up to Parliament and the Finance Ministry to decide whether to include a new tax on sports in the 2026 budget.
“Well, I don’t know what the Finance Minister is going to do as far as taxation issues are concerned,” he stated. “Surely, he will take it to Parliament. If Parliament approves, fine.”
The Minister also revealed that while initial revenue from the Sports Fund may not be large, it is expected to grow over time as data collection and compliance improve.
“I know initially it will not be much,” he said. “But as it drives on and we begin to capture a lot of data, it will go into millions.”
Mr Adams also responded to questions about the recently scrapped betting tax, which was widely criticised as a “nuisance tax.”
He said that although it could have been a potential source of funding, its implementation made it unpopular and ineffective.
“When something is good and is done badly, it becomes difficult to immediately change it and say that, because you are having these good intentions, let’s just drift it that way,” he said. “It doesn’t work that way.”
He noted that if the betting tax had been used strictly to support sports development, it could have made a meaningful impact.
“It would have been if, when they did that, it was being used for sports and not collecting it and using it for many other things that were unnecessary,” he argued.
Outlining the purpose of the Sports Fund, Mr Adams said it would be used to support infrastructure, athlete development, and key sporting disciplines such as football, athletics, boxing, volleyball, and hockey.
“The Sports Fund will support sports infrastructure,” he said. “It will support the growth of especially key sports areas. Football is one of them, and athletics. I love athletics so much, sitting here, but we have not funded it enough.”
He lamented the poor state of facilities in many schools, saying the lack of proper tracks and training infrastructure has limited Ghana’s ability to produce world-class athletes.
“We have not funded it enough. How many tracks do we have? Many schools are still running on undulating pitches where you have to look where to step because there are so many holes in the tracks. There’s no way you can produce Olympic green athletes if you have such pitches.”
According to him, the Sports Fund will be managed by professional fund managers and not by political appointees.
Beneficiaries will have to apply, justify their requests, and account for previous support before receiving additional funds.
“It’s not going to be free money that you just come and take without accounting for any improvement,” he said.
“If you are supported, you have to prove that you have done something meaningful with the previous support before you qualify for another.”
Mr Adams concluded by stressing that Ghana could replicate the success stories of other nations that have used sports funds to nurture world champions.
“Look, the Anthony Joshuas and the rest that came here—it was out of the British Sports Fund that they created, that has supported athletes and created big-time boxers and world champions for them,” he said. “We can also do that again.”
