The National Amputee Football Association of Ghana (NAFAG) has made an appeal for support as the team, prepares the 2024 Africa Amputee Football Cup Nations (AAFCON) to be staged in Egypt, Cairo. At a press conference, held in Accra at the National Paralympic Committee (NPC) Head Office, Mr. Mohammed Huzair, Secretary General (SG) said it was important for the team to part-take in this year's competition as the defending champions. He said the tournament serves as a qualification for the 2026 Amputee Football World Cup adding that failure to participate in the continental competitions means, the team would not be going to the world cup. 'We need funds to carry out camping, transportations and air ticket for players, operations, administration cost, including tickets to send supporters and management to the AAFCON from April 18-26, 2024. 'We are calling on government, Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Sports Authority, Non-governmental Organisations, corporate bodies, individuals to come and support u s,' he said. He said NAFAG has been neglected by the state just like the other sporting disciplines, 'just like other sporting disciplines amputee football has also received a high neglect by government and the cooperate world and the Ghanaians in general. 'Our situation has been and continue to be very bad over the years, our budgetary requirements are usually neglected by the right people as a result our officials and players have to contribute to cater for activities, before, during and after competitions.' Mr. Stephen Richard Obeng, Head Coach of the association (The Black Challenge) said it was important for the government to pay attention to Amputee Football as they were many amputee persons with a lot of talent and needed the support of the state to excel. at top competitions. 'To some of us, managing amputee is a ministry and a calling and if we don't do it well God would not forgive us. 'To pick someone on the street, train him to get a job is not easy, but very important and helpful,' he noted. Mr. Emmnuel Akpabli, Welfare Officer for the team appealed to government to pay much attention to disabled persons. Mr. Ali Jara Technical Director for the team said the team has been struggling from the beginning, 'our team has suffered enough and anytime we need support it takes the media to speak on our behalf why is that so?' Source: Ghana News Agency WINDHOEK: Minister of Finance and Public Enterprises, Iipumbu Shiimi, has allocated N.dollars 679.4 million to the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service for the 2024/25 financial year. This was revealed when Shiimi tabled the N.dollars 100 billion national budget in the National Assembly on Wednesday, under the theme 'Continuing the Legacy of His Excellency, President Hage G Geingob by Caring for the Namibian Child.' The Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service's allocation will be divided among its three directorates; sport, youth and national service. The N.dollars 679.4 million budget saw the sports ministry receive an additional N.dollars 206 million compared to the allocation in the 2023/24 financial year budget, where it received N.dollars 473.2 million. Shiimi said a total of N.dollars 124 million is allocated for the renovation and upgrading of facilities such as the Independence Stadium in Windhoek over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), among other priorities. 'N.dollars 124 million has been provided in the development budget for, among others, upgrading of the Independence Stadium, as well as various sports facilities and multipurpose youth centres across the country,' he said. In the 2022/23 budget, the sports ministry received an allocation of N.dollars 50 million, while in the 2023/24 budget, an allocation of N.dollars 142 million for the renovation of facilities such as Independence Stadium was made. This year's allocation once again comes as a tonic for the country's worn-out sports sector, which continues to struggle with inadequate and dilapidated facilities. The finance minister stated that the Vote of Sports, Youth and National Service has increased by 45.3 per cent to N.dollars 679.4 million in the Financial Year 2024/25 and a total of N.dollars 2.2 billion over the MTEF. 'We take note of the re-energised interest in sports activities and have accordingly increased the operational budget for sport promotion programmes by an additional N.dollars 100 million,' he said, adding that the budget increase includes N.dollars 29.5 million for preparatory activities to enable Namibia to host the Region 5 Youth Games in May 2025. Source: The Namibia Press Agency