Prof. Henrietta J.A.N. Mensa-Bonsu, a Professor of Law at the University has been elected as President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS).
By this, Prof. Mensa-Bonsa becomes the third female and first University of Ghana alumna to be elected to the high office of GAAS President. She will serve a two-year term spanning 2019 to 2020.
In a congratulatory message from Prof. Samuel Kwame Offei, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Academic and Student Affairs, on behalf of the Vice-Chancellor, he indicated that Prof. Mensa-Bonsu’s “elevation to the prestigious position of President of GAAS was a remarkable feat and a testament to her hard work and dedication to duty.” He was confident that the award will spur her on to achieve greater laurels to make the University of Ghana proud.
Prof. Henrietta J.A.N. Mensa-Bonsu has served the University of Ghana in various esteemed capacities including the immediate past Director of the Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD). Prof. Mensa-Bonsu teaches Criminal Law, Jurisprudence and Conflict Resolution Theory and Practice at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, and serves on a number of Boards of the University.
She has also been engaged on a number of high-level national and international assignments. She served on the Legal Committee of the Ghana National Commission on Children; represented Ghana on the Inter-governmental Meeting of Experts on the Draft African Charter on the Rights of the Child, served as member of the President’s Committee on the Review of Educational Reforms, the National Reconciliation Commission and the Ghana Police Council.
A highpoint of her international career was her appointment as the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Rule of Law (DSRSG) in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) with the rank of Assistant-Secretary-General in 2007.
As Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the Rule of Law Sector of the United Nations in Liberia for four years, she led the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission as its deputy head and also led the United Nations family on efforts to reconstruct the law-enforcement, legal and judicial sectors of post-conflict Liberia. Returning to the University of Ghana in 2011, she served as a Civilian Mentor to the ECOWAS Senior Mission Leadership Course training of the Civilian Component for the ECOWAS Standby Force (ESF), also on the UN’s Senior Mission Leadership Course.
Hearty congratulations to Prof. Henrietta J.A.N. Mensa-Bonsu. You make us proud!
Ayekoo!
