The nation’s chronic failure to maintain its sports infrastructure has once again been laid bare, this time at Essipon.

The Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Iddie Adams, has sounded the loudest alarm yet, describing the Sekondi Stadium as a “national asset on the brink of collapse”. 

His assessment, following an inspection tour last Friday, should jolt the nation into recognising what has long been obvious: our sports facilities are deteriorating faster than we can rehabilitate them, and the Essipon facility is merely the latest and most painful example of a deeper national malaise.

Also called Essipon Stadium, the facility stands today as a symbol of prolonged neglect, 16 years after its construction for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.

Corroded structures, failing components, peeling infrastructure and unsafe sections confront every visitor. 

For a 20,000-seater stadium meant to lift the profile of the Western Region, the level of decay is not only alarming; it is unacceptable for a country with Ghana’s sporting aspirations. What Mr Adams and his delegation, including the National Sports Authority (NSA) Director-General, Yaw Ampofo Ankrah, witnessed was a facility crying for help.
More worrying still is the encroachment on the stadium’s land. Unauthorised private developments have begun to creep around the facility, threatening future expansion and the provision of essential auxiliary installations. The minister’s call for immediate intervention from the Western Regional Coordinating Council and traditional authorities must, therefore, be heeded without delay.
Even ongoing rehabilitation works, such as re-roofing, replacement of seats, refurbishment of washrooms, upgrades to lighting and cooling systems and installation of a new scoreboard,   have progressed far too slowly. Large portions of the stadium remain untouched. Promised improvements, from a modernised playing surface to upgraded dressing rooms and enhanced security zones, are yet to materialise. 
Yet Essipon is not an isolated tragedy. It mirrors a national pattern of mismanagement, poor planning, and an absence of sustainable maintenance models. Months ago, the minister’s nationwide inspection tour revealed a disturbing picture: millions of dollars in sports infrastructure either wasting away or lying idle. The Nyinahin Youth Resource Centre — 95 per cent complete on paper but visibly deteriorating — is a glaring indictment of a system that celebrates commissioning ceremonies but neglects long-term functionality. Youth centres in Koforidua and Ho, used only for Independence Day parades, tell the same story.
President John Dramani Mahama’s directive to build new stadiums in the newly created regions is, in principle, a forward-looking policy. But Ghana cannot afford to reproduce its old mistakes. New stadiums must come with new thinking — sustainable funding, professional maintenance teams, public-private partnerships, and rigorous performance-based management.
Essipon must, therefore, become a turning point. If we fail to rescue this stadium — and reform the culture that allowed it to decay — Ghana will continue pouring scarce public funds into facilities that deteriorate before they deliver value.