Five contenders from across the African continent are emerging as potential successors to the late Hamad Kalkaba Malboum, following Kenyan athletics chief Jackson Tuwei’s decision not to stand for the presidency of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA).
The race for the presidency of the CAA is beginning to take shape, with five candidates from four different African regions emerging ahead of the elective congress in Eswatini on 18 March 2027.
According to Athletics Africa sources, five candidacies have so far been submitted to the CAA and are currently subject to the organisation’s vetting process.
The outcome is expected by the end of November 2026, when the list of approved candidates will become official.
The five candidates identified so far, are:
- Dieudonne Kwizera – Burundi (Central Africa)
- Bawah Fuseini – Ghana (Western Africa)
- Tonobok Okowa – Nigeria (Western Africa)
- Beatrice Ayikoru – Uganda (Eastern Africa)
- Moses Bantsi – Botswana (Southern Africa)
The emerging field includes one candidate from a French-speaking African country, Dieudonné Kwizera of Burundi, while the other four come from English-speaking nations.
Kwizera is an Olympian and a two-time 800m bronze medallist, at the 1987 All-Africa Games in Nairobi and the 1988 IAAF Grand Prix Final in Berlin, where he finished behind Britain’s Tom McKean and Sebastian Coe.
An important historical dimension to the contest is that, since the CAA was founded in 1973, every president of the continental governing body has come from a French-speaking African country.
The new CAA President will be elected at the organisation’s 31st Congress in Mbabane, Eswatini, where African Athletics will choose its next leader and determine the direction of the continental governing body in the coming years.
