President of the African Paralympic Committee, Samson Deen has expressed his delight at the ban lifted on Ghana’s participation in all amputee football activities by the World Amputee Football Association.
With Ghana being the current African Amputee Football Champions since 2021, the team’s inclusion in the global arena will further strengthen the country’s presence in the world of Paralympic sports.
Speaking to Citi Sports in an exclusive interview, Samson Deen, says the news is great for the Amputee Football Fraternity in Ghana and it will commence programs to prepare a formidable team for the upcoming Accra 2023 African Para Games slated for September.
This comes to alot of us and Ghanaians as great news and i will like to say that we from the fraternity of the sports, promotion in the country with regards to disability and para sports, we are so happy to bring to a conclusion to this long-standing problem.
The problem escalated into the International governing bodies which resulted in their decision to ban Ghana.”
Reason behind the ban on Ghana by the World Amputee Football Association :
The issue started in 2013 when a group of people registered an association to rival the existing Amputee Football Association with the Registrar General.
They named their body “Ghana Amputee Football Federation”.
Still, the Ministry of Sports, National Sports Authority and National Paralympic Committee recognized only Ghana Amputee Football Association.
Under the auspices of the National Sports Authority, the recognized association was mandated to organize all national activities and the development of amputee football in the country.
The group had since 2013 dragged these institutions to court hence the ban from the World Body in April 2022.
This happened way before Samson Deen was elected as President in 2019 and have spent alot of legal issues trying to resolve that matter.
The President of the African Paralympic Committee and Ghana Paralympic Committee Mr Samson Deen, led the process with his able team Mohammed Harmis Huzair and Theodore Mawuli Wiwortor, to present and qualify Ghana to be accepted as a member of the World Amputee Football Association “WAFF”
