The Chief Director of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Alhaji Hafiz Adam, has said the ministry frowns on doping as it makes sports competition unfair.
Apart from giving an unfair advantage to competitors, he said doping also jeopardized the health of athletes, adding that Ghana was taking the necessary steps to nip doping in the bud.
Alhaji Adam disclosed this at a stakeholders’ consultative workshop to review the draft anti-doping bill and for the establishment of a national anti-doping agency.
He noted that the anti-doping bill, when passed into law, would not only stop unfair competition in sports but would also make Ghanaian athletes meet the international standards set by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) (the worldwide agency steering doping-free sports).
The Chief Director added that the law would also make the use of prohibited drugs in sports expensive for athletes and raise the image of Ghana’s sports in the world.
He disclosed that Ghana in 2007 endorsed the 2005 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convention on doping in sports.
The day workshop was organized by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in collaboration with the Anti-doping Secretariat and Anti-doping Committee of Ghana.
Priscilla Nimako, ISD
