Samson Deen’s Full Speech at the NPC – Ghana Extraordinary General Assembly

WELCOME ADDRESS BY MR. SAMSON DEEN, PRESIDENT OF THE NPC-GHANA AT THE EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE NATION PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE OF GHANA 20TH APRIL 2024, AT THE AIRPORT WEST HOTEL IN ACCRA.

THE HON. EVANS OPOKU BOBIE (MP), DEPUTY MINISTER OF YOUTH AND SPORTS, MR. WILLIAM KARTEY, CHIEF DIRECTOR MINISTRY OF YOUTH AND SPORTS, MR. JEFFREY KUMI MANZAN OWUSU, HEAD OF THE TECHNICAL DEPT. NSA, MY DISTINGUISH BOARD MEMBERS, DEAR DELEGATES AND LEADERS OF NATIONAL SPORTS FEDERATIONS, THE MEDIA,
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.

Good morning, welcome and thank you all for honoring the invitation to this important event, the maiden Extraordinary General Assembly in the history of Paralympic movement in Ghana.

First of all, let me express my profound gratitude to the Honorable Minister of Youth and Sports, the Deputy Minister, the Chief Director, the Staff of the Ministry, NSA as well as the Paralympic Family and Friends for the support on this journey to this far.

I am particularly grateful to the Honorable Minister, His Deputy Minister Honorable Evans Opoku Bobbie and Mr. Ben Nunoo Mensah, President of the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) for your support as a candidate and my eventual election to head the African continental Region Organization – the African Paralympic Committee as its President.

Unprecedented in the history of the Paralympic Movement in Ghana and the West African Sub-region. I will forever remain grateful and indebted to you.

Hon. Deputy Minister, about four years ago, precisely on the 6th of July 2019 the NPC-Ghana General Assembly elected me as the president, alongside seven (7) other elected officers including Mr. Frederick Otu – Vice President, Mr. Peter Adjei – Secretary General, Mr. Evans Yeboah – Treasurer, as well as Mr. Twum Barimah, Ibrahim Saani, Philip Otuo, Henry Larbi as members. Thus, to form the Executive Board and run the affairs of the NPC for a four-year term; to inspire further transformation of the Paralympic Movement and its sports in Ghana, provide the needed leadership as well as offer hope and opportunities for our athletes.

Honorable Deputy Minister, the Board members have been phenomenal in their dealings, providing effective and good leadership support characterized by teamwork, collaboration, and dedication. The mix of technical and administrative experiences and expertise of members has been remarkable for which I am grateful.
Dear Delegates, a lot of gains have been made for the past four years despite the negative and unproductive activities of some individuals and groups just to thwart the effort of this administration.

Some of these unproductive actions and activities include attempt to form splinter bodies, circulating letters to embassies and international sporting organization, court actions and attempt to stop legitimate national athletes and teams to represent the country in international competitions and events.

This is not only negatively impacting the development and promotion of our sports, but also causing embarrassment to our dear country in the international scene as well as undermining the authorities of the country’s sporting governing bodies including the Sector Ministry.

 

Honorable Deputy, notwithstanding these challenges, we have remained committed, focused, and resilient and this has inspired the successes chalked so far. These Few years, Honorable Deputy Minister, para sports and athletes’ participation has increased tremendously, both at national and international levels.

We have witnessed our athletes participating in all the major international and world events including the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan, the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in the United Kingdom; the historic hosting of the First African Para Games by Ghana brought and left a lot of benefits for our sports including a dedicated office; variety of sports equipment which has been distributed to various Sports Federations, a 44 Seater Bus yet to cleared from the Tema Port, Training of national and international classifiers for para athletics, powerlifting, boccia, wheelchair tennis; training of coaches and technical officials for various sports are some of the remarkable achievements of this administration.

Inclusion Honorable Deputy Minister, the purpose of today’s meeting informed by Article 7(3) of our constitution that states, “Extraordinary General Assembly may be called by the President, on request of the Executive Board or by at least one-third (1/3) of the total number of members, to address urgent matters affecting or brought before the Committee and the purpose shall be clearly stated for notice of members and quorum of the meeting shall be 2/3 of members”.

We are here today dear delegates to consider following issues going forward:

i. Consideration for approval of Annual Membership Fees

ii. Consideration for approval of New Para Sports and their respective Federations/Associations (Adaptive Boxing, Boccia Sports, Para Biathlon, Wheelchair Rugby, Para Archery, Wheelchair Softball,

iii. Amendments to Article 2 Membership: Sections 1 to 5
iv. Date for Elective General Assembly per Article 7. 1(ii) and 6(ii)
On this note, I wish once again to welcome you all to this august meeting and urge you to offer your invaluable contributions and suggestions to the issues.

Thank you and may Allah bless us all.