Lidi Kedjaka Bessi Kama-Gumedzoe (born 15 March 1979) is a Togolese handball administrator and physician who has served as Minister of Sports and Leisure since 2020. She has also served as a military physician and as a member of several sports governing body medical commissions, chairing those of the Togolese Handball Federation and International Handball Federation.
Lidi Bessi Kama | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Sports and Leisure | |
| Assumed office 1 October 2020 | |
| President | Faure Gnassingbé |
| Prime Minister | Victoire Tomegah Dogbé |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 15 March 1979 Lomé, Togo |
| Alma mater | University of Lomé |
| Awards | Knight of the Order of Mono (2011) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Togo |
| Branch/service | Togolese Armed Forces |
| Rank | Physician-commander |
Biography
editLidi Kedjaka Bessi Kama-Gumedzoe was born on 15 March 1979 in Lomé.[1] She was educated at the Notre Dame des Apôtres College in Lomé, at Lycée de Tokoin (obtaining her baccalaureate in 1996), and at the Lomé Army Health Service School.[2] She then graduated with a doctorate in medicine at the University of Lomé, where she got a specialist degree in pediatrics and child hygiene, before getting a specialist degree in sports medicine at the Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny.[2]
After joining the Togolese National Olympic Committee Medical Commission in 2005, she was part of the 2008 Summer Olympics as Togo's closing ceremony flagbearer and an Olympic physician.[3][1] After serving as Togo's representative in the Zone II and Zone III Regional Anti-Doping Organization in 2006, she served as president from 2015 to 2017.[1] She has also chaired the Medical Commissions of the Togolese Handball Federation (in 2008) and International Handball Federation.[1][4] She also joined the African Handball Confederation Medical Commission in 2009.[1]
She is a doctor-commander in the Togolese Armed Forces, and is the country's first female paratrooper doctor.[4][1] She has worked as a pediatrician at the Sylvanus Olympio University Hospital and as a teacher at the École nationale des auxiliaires médicaux.[1] She was also Deputy Force Medical Officer of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali from 2017 until 2018.[1] She was a commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Togo from April 2019 to 2021.[1]
On 1 October 2020, she became Minister of Sports and Leisure of Togo as part of Victoire Tomegah Dogbé's cabinet; she is the second woman to be Togo's sports minister, the first one being Angèle Bansah.[4][2] She had assumed the position amidst the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic in Togo.[4]
She was made Knight of the Order of Mono in 2011.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Lidi Kédéka Bessi KAMA-GUMEDZOE (Ministre des Sports et des Loisirs)". aLome. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ a b c Ziggah, Donatien (2 October 2020). "Togo: qui est Lidi Bessi Kama, nouveau ministre des sports du Togo ?". sportculture.tg. Archived from the original on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ "Lidi Bessi-Kama". Olympedia. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Togo - Lidi Kedjaka Gbessi débarque au ministère des Sports". iciLome.com. Retrieved 20 October 2023.