Former Sports Minister and current MP for Odododiodio Constituency, Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye, has publicly pledged to undertake a comprehensive overhaul and “sanitize” Ghana’s sports sector if he is appointed Youth and Sports Minister in a future John Mahama administration.
Vanderpuye, who previously held the role in 2016, expressed deep dissatisfaction with the current state of Ghanaian sports under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration. Speaking to Joy Sports, he emphasized his confidence in reforming the system, stating:
“If I become the Minister of Sports in 2025, I will sanitize the Sports. I will sanitize the sports once again. I am not happy with the things going on, I am not happy.”
He specifically targeted Ghanaian football, criticizing the influence of “businessmen and shylocks” who exploit the sport for personal gain at the expense of players and genuine investors.
Vanderpuye, a former footballer and sportsman himself, stressed his commitment to protecting athletes from exploitation, asserting that the game should benefit “the people who play the game, the people who invest their money… and not people who sit behind and turn footballers and people who do football like poultry chicken.”
His promise comes as the current Minister, Mustapha Ussif, faces mounting criticism over the declining performance of national teams, notably the Black Stars’ failure to progress beyond the group stage of any international tournament since 2019.
