Cameroon – Sports: The Decline of Cameroon in Sports Diplomacy

After the exit of Issa Hayatou from the CAF, it is the turn of Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, temporarily  suspended from the Olympic body in Africa.

Cameroon’s sports diplomacy is straining. In the space of two months, the country is about to lose two of its most valuable ambassadors in the governing bodies of sport in Africa and in the world. They are Issa Hayatou and Hamad Kalkaba Malboum.

The Kalkaba Scandal

The president of the National Olympic and Sports Committee of Cameroon (CNOSC) is currently in turmoil. Colonel Kalkaba Malboum was recently suspended on an interim basis from the Olympic body of Africa. The decision taken by the Executive Committee of the Association of African Olympic Committees (ANOCA) follows Ethiopia’s accusations of unethical behavior.

Already chairman of the African Athletics Confederation and vice-president of the World Athletics Federation (IAAF), Kalkaba Malboum was a candidate for the presidency of ANOCA against the Ivorian Lassana Palenfo. But a few days before the general assembly held in Djibouti from 9 to 11 May 2017, ANOCA returned to the possession of the documents that incriminate our compatriot.

These documents, some of which have gone around the web, reveal that Kalkaba Malboum received a lot of money from the Cameroonian government as part of his campaign. 186 million FCFA in all that the beneficiary would then redistribute to associations in the four corners of the continent in order to be elected. An approach prohibited by the statutes of ANOCA. As a result, the former president of the Cameroonian handball federation was dismissed, leaving the field free to his challenger, Palenfo who has re-entered for 4 years.

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