Ben Nunoo Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee, wants sports federations to be transparent ©Ghana Olympic Committee

Ben Nunoo Mensah, the President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), has advised the country's sports federations to be "transparent and accountable" as they receive grants from the governing body.

To this end, a new accountant and an administrative manager have been appointed to ensure the professional management of GOC affairs.

Mensah also added that offices had been provided for media, games, accounts staff and national federations, as well as a boardroom and a functional library.

The GOC will assist the national Olympic governing bodies with funds for the development of their programmes, he said.

Sport in Ghana will receive financial contributions from sponsors and the GOC ©Getty Images
Sport in Ghana will receive financial contributions from sponsors and the GOC ©Getty Images

Mensah, who is also President of the Ghana Weightlifting Federation, envisaged support for non-Olympic sports and for preparations for the qualifiers for the Commonwealth Games.

Money for national federations has come from sponsors and the GOC itself.

The President said the GOC would do its best to assist the efforts of the Government in supporting the travel plans of national teams.

At present, they are unable to leave the burden of sponsoring them to the Ministry of Youth and Sports alone.

He added that in future, national sports federations are going to pay "affiliation fees" to the GOC, so they must know how to find funds for their own programmes.