Hamad Kalkaba Malboum returned as President of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) on Monday, April 15th, at the Ordinary Congress of the CAA held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he defeated Tunisian rival Amara Khaled by 44 votes to seven to retain his seat.
Malboum has been at the helm of affairs of the CAA since 2003 after taking over from Lamine Diack who went on to become President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 1999 to 2015.
51 of the 54 member federations of the continent were in attendance at the congress, while delegates from Angola, Chad and Sao Tome were absent at the event.
While reinstating Malboum, IAAF President Sebastian Coe expressed his delight at the return of the Cameroonian. He said, “I want to congratulate both candidates that stood for the elections, but specially congratulate my colleague and friend Kalkaba. I look forward to working with him again because we have a lot of work to do. This is an important and proud moment for Africa.”
Malboum also congratulated his opponent, stating that the pair had been working towards the development of Athletics on the continent, and would continue to do so.
