President of the National Paralympics Committee, Samson Deen, has been elected new head of the Africa Paralympics committee at the ongoing General Assembly in Rabat, Morocco.
Mr Deen polled 24 of the total votes cast, beating Morocco’s Hamid El Aouni who polled 15 votes. Mr Deen replaces the outgoing APC boss Leonel da Rocha Pinto who has been in charge for 13 years.
The total of 41 delegates (38 in-person and three voting online) comprised of Presidents and General Secretaries of National Paralympics committees on the continent with nine positions contested.
Positions of President, Secretary-General, Vice president, treasurer and representatives from the language communities (Arabic, English, French and Portuguese ) and the Athletes representative were contested.
Mr Deen was elected President of the National Paralympics committee in 2019 and was endorsed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports who had Deputy Sports Minister Evans Bobie Opoku in Rabat to support his bid.
Ghana is aiming to become the first country to host the African Games alongside an African Para Games in 2023 and Mr Deen’s election is viewed as a huge boost to achieving that.