John Mahama: NDC government will pay stipends to Ghana Premier League players

The flagbearer of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Mahama, has said he will make sure players in the Ghana Premier League are paid stipends if he becomes president.

Mahama said this when he met the media to address their questions at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra on Sunday, July 7, 2024.

The former president promised to develop sporting infrastructure in the country and also invest in lesser-known sports.

John Mahama promises investment in lesser-known sports

He further stated that, should the NDC return to power, footballers in the Ghana Premier League will be paid stipends to cushion them.

“Let me also assure the sports fraternity that we shall develop our stadium infrastructure for track and field sports,” Mahama said.

“We’ll fix the deteriorating football pitches and pay stipends to footballers in the Premier League like we promised in 2020. What we call the lesser-known sports shall also receive equitable attention like we give to soccer.”

Mahama also acknowledged the poor state of stadiums across the country and said although he cannot promise new ones due to the country’s economic state, the existing ones will be renovated.

“In the current crisis in which we are, I will not stand here and promise that we will build a new stadium, but I have said that under the big push, we intend to spend a certain amount of money over five years on providing a good infrastructure including road, bridges, agro-industrial parks and so on and so forth, that could include sports facilities,” he said.

“If you go to many countries, sports plays a good path in the 24-hour economy and so you find games played at night, but in our part of the country we can have games at night.”

Mahama served as Ghana’s president from 2012 to 2016 before losing out on the last two elections to incumbent president, Nana Akufo-Addo.