By NATION AFRICA

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It is now official that the former East Africa Golf Confederation will henceforth be known as the Africa Region Four Golf Confederation, meaning it is now open to all the 14 countries that form the region.

At the Africa Region Four annual general meeting held at the Roca Golf Hotel on Friday and attended by all the delegates and acting Africa Golf Confederation (AGC) president Johnson Omollo of Uganda, new tournament guidelines were adopted alongside a new constitution.

Among the new key changes are that Africa Region 4 now replaces the East Africa Golf Confederation which has now been expanded to to the 14 members in conformity with the Africa Union sports commission requirements.

The region’s membership is made up of Burundi, Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, ReUnion, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

Although , here are no known golf activities in Somalia and South Sudan, the two countries also fall under Region Four.

The Africa Union Sports Commission which took over the function of the dissolved Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA), divided Africa into five regions.

Region One consists of countries from North Africa, West African nations form Region Two, Region Three for Central Africa, Region Four for East Africa and Region Five for Southern Africa.

Though the chairmanship of the region and secretary will be rotating between countries hosting the championship, the permanent secretariat shall be in Kenya under the Kenya Golf Union.

With Uganda hosting the 2020 tournament, their golf union chairman Innocent Kihika is the current chairman.

The meeting also resolved that Seychelles and Ethiopia would host the 2021 and 2022 tournaments.

Speaking during the prize giving ceremony Kihika said Uganda was more than ready to host next year’s tournament.

“We will do our best to make sure that at least all the active golf members come to Uganda for the tournament,” he said.

AGC acting president Omollo urged golf unions to use the championship to enhance friendship and not allow politics to seep through and cause divisions.

He also thanked the Burundi golf union president for his excellent organisation and agreeing to host the event despite some countries having withdrawn from the event or failing to confirm participation.

Meanwhile, the Kenyan team left Bujumbura for Nairobi Sunday morning.

This was after joining other Kenyans on Saturday afternoon in celebrating Madaraka day at the Kenyan embassy following the invitation of Kenya’s ambassador to Burundi Kenneth Vitisia who also attended the official and closing ceremonies of the Africa Region Four golf championship.