Winnifred Mawudeku says the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence had been neglected for several years and was in a far worse condition than she had expected before she became its director.
Mawudeku initially believed the facility could be revived when she expressed an interest in managing it. However, her assessment changed after she took over and saw the extent of the deterioration.
“I like to describe the place as dead. And so from the outside, it looked dead. And you want to come and put in an effort to resurrect it,” she said.
“But coming in, I realised that the dead body was decomposing. So Prampram had been run down over the years.”
She recalled first raising the possibility of managing the centre during a meeting with the late former Minister of Youth and Sports, E.T. Mensah, in Washington.
According to Mawudeku, she had already seen signs of the facility’s poor condition before making her interest known. She said she had been able to move around the centre and open doors without anyone challenging her presence.
Despite what she encountered, Mawudeku said she remained confident that the Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence could be restored.
“For a lot of people who have worked with me over the years, they know that Winifred is capable of turning things around,” she added.
