The newly commissioned Chairman of the Governing Board of the Ghana Anti-Doping Agency (GADA), Prof. Francis Dodoo, has pledged to provide professional, principled leadership aimed at building a fair, transparent and trusted anti-doping system to strengthen the integrity of Ghanaian sport.
Prof. Dodoo, a distinguished former athlete who represented Ghana in several sporting disciplines in his youth, was named to lead the newly inaugurated GADA Governing Board by the Minister of Sports and Recreation, Kofi Iddie Adams, last Tuesday.
The 13-member board includes Killian Kwame Abrampah, who serves as Secretary; former Black Stars captain Stephen Appiah, ACP Asiedu Eric Asamoah and Wilhelmina Asamoah, Chief Director at the Ministry of Sports and Recreation.
Tasked with safeguarding the integrity of Ghana’s athletes and sporting institutions, the board is expected to give direction, credibility and longevity to the country’s anti-doping regime. Its work is anchored in the Ghana Anti-Doping Act, 2024, passed by Parliament to establish GADA, implement the UNESCO
Convention Against Doping in Sports and promote clean competition nationwide.
“For me, doping, even at a personal level, has always been a fundamental concern,” Prof. Dodoo said. “But as I grew older — and hopefully wiser — I came to realise that it also has serious reputational implications for countries. When athletes dope and deny others medals, their nations lose the honour and glory they should have earned.”
Accepting the mandate on behalf of the board, he added: “We will put our minds together and set out clear directions that will ensure a transparent and credible process.”
“It is incumbent on us who have been appointed today to build a system that supports Ghana’s ambition to become a greater sporting nation,” he continued.
“It is equally important to instil in our children, right from the grassroots, the correct values and the proper way of doing things when they enter sport.”
Prof. Dodoo brings a vast experience and credibility to the role. A four-time Olympian and former national triple jump record holder, his leap of 17.12 metres at the 1987 All-Africa Games in Nairobi remains a continental record.
An outstanding all-round sportsman, he represented Ghana in athletics, hockey, basketball, volleyball and cricket before transitioning into academia and sports administration.
He currently serves as Chairman of the World Athletics Governance Commission and is a former President of both the Ghana Olympic Committee and Ghana Athletics.
