President John Mahama has appointed Professor Francis Dodoo, former President of Ghana Athletics and the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), as the Presidential Advisor for the National Anti-Corruption Programme.
Dodoo, currently serving his second term as Chairman of the World Athletics Governance Commission, will play a key role in Ghana’s renewed anti-corruption efforts.
In President Mahama’s first term, Prof Dodoo was a Presidential staffer and led both Ghana Athletics and the GOC. After losing the GOC elections in 2017, he stepped down and continued his global work with World Athletics, focusing on ethical governance and integrity in sports.
Prof Dodoo also chaired an advisory group in 2023 to assess Russian and Belarusian athletics operations in international competitions. Beyond sports, he is a Professor of Sociology and Demography, holding dual appointments at Pennsylvania State University and the University of Ghana. He previously served as the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation, and Development at the University of Ghana.
His academic excellence earned him the British Academy Global Professorship for fellowship at Oxford University’s Leverhulme Centre for Demographic Science. He is also the founding Director and Board Chair of the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) in Kenya and Chair of the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP).
A distinguished global leader, Prof Dodoo has served on the Governance and Integrity Committee of the Commonwealth Games Federation and advised numerous national governments and international organizations on social and development issues. Awarded the Grand Medal of the Republic of Ghana in 2006, and a four-time Olympian, he was named Ghana’s Sportsman of the Year in 1987, leaving a lasting legacy in both sports and academia.
