The government remains committed to absorbing the expenses of testing players and officials- Sports Minister

Refuting speculations that the government had backtracked on its pledge to provide free testing of the COVID-19 pandemic for GPL club players and officials, Mr. Asiamah emphasized that government is still committed to absorb the bills.

Speaking to Graphic Sports in a telephone interview the Sports Minister revealed that testing is ongoing and the National COVID Team is in charge of the process.

“The testing of players and officials of participating clubs of the Ghana Premier League is being performed by the National COVID Team (NCT) who are liaising with the National Sports Authority (NSA) to ensure a fruitful and comprehensive exercise," he said

“This is ongoing but the concern is about the results of players and officials affected by the exercise who have to be isolated for testing positive. Nobody has complained about the cost of testing,” he added.

“The government stands committed to protect the citizenry against the COVID-19 pandemic and is, therefore, putting resources in place to make the exercise successful,”

“The government is taking care of everything. It is not only the free testing of players and officials but also essential items such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has been distributed to all clubs and officials to protect them from being infected by the COVID-19 pandemic as they compete for laurels,"

When it was mentioned that certain Premier League clubs had agreed to demand compensation from the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for carrying out their own COVID 19 pandemic testing, Mr. Asiamah claimed that he was not aware of any such complaint.

“If such a case had come to the office of the FA, the FA president would have informed me immediately,but nothing of that sort had come to my notice,” he concluded.