October 26, 2018
By Sahr Morris Jnr
African Paralympic Committee
The African Paralympic Committee (APC) is asking Sierra Leone government and other African countries to provide an annual budget to support sporting activities for persons with disability and their National Paralympic Committees.
The call for an annual budget came at a recent African Ministers sports conference in which the representative of the APC made a presentation on the activities of the Committee.
With Sierra Leone being a member of the APC, a blanket call by the African Committee is seeking amongst others, for the African Union to also formally endorse the “African Para Games” as an official qualification multi-sport event for African Para athletes every four years in the lead up of the Paralympic Games.
The recommendations made by the APC include: “To request the member states to ensure an annual budget to support Sports activities for persons with a disability and their National Paralympic Committees.”
“Request to African Union to formally endorse the “African Para Games” as an official qualification multi-sport event for African Para athletes every four years in the lead up of the Paralympic Games and encourage members states to volunteer to host the first Edition of the African Para-Games in the last quarter of 2019 or the first quarter of 2020.”
Also amongst the recommendation is the call for recognition of the African Paralympic Games (APC) as the legitimate umbrella body for all matters related to Sports for Persons with disabilities. The said games will also ensure that APC is an active part of the African Sports movement alongside the African Union, ANOCA and AASC.